Celebrating impact across schools
Local educators celebrated at special event
More than 90 local teachers and staff from schools in Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties were selected by school administration for outstanding dedication, leadership, and innovation. For their achievements, they were celebrated as Educators of Excellence at two special events held Wednesday, April 24, and Wednesday, May 1, in Blacksmith Main at The Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd.
These events recognized and awarded local educators who positively impact students and colleagues. This year, in addition to 50 Teachers of Excellence, 46 non-teaching staff were also named and recognized with a new award category called Pillars of Excellence. Due to this additional award category, the event was split into two nights: April 24 celebrated Teachers and Pillars in the northern half of the five counties, while May 1 featured recipients from the southern half.
An additional award called Innovator of the Year, given by the Innovative Schools Project (ISP), was presented to Jon Koenig and Dr. Lake Mathison, both from Royalton School District.
Crosby-Ironton school counselor Trevor Rohloff was among those honored at the event.
“In this job, in this role…you don’t always get to see the impact you have,” Rohloff says. “A lot of times you’re working with some pretty tough situations, and it might be years before you see or even hear that you had an effect on some kids. To see that, to hear that from those kids and some of the people that I work with here, that’s incredible.”
In addition to Crosby-Ironton, educators from the following districts were honored: Bertha-Hewitt, Brainerd, Cass Lake-Bena, Freshwater, Little Falls, Menahga, Northland Community, Pequot Lakes, Pierz, Pillager, Pine River-Backus, Royalton, Sebeka, Staples-Motley, Swanville, Upsala, Verndale, Wadena-Deer Creek, and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley.
The Educators of Excellence celebrations were broadcast live on Facebook for the general public, and recordings are available to view on Sourcewell’s Facebook page for both April 24 and May 1.