Teacher of the Year Award is a Top Achievement
From The Governor’s Desk
A weekly column by Gov. Joe Manchin
Charleston, WV (HNN) -- Earlier this month, I joined First Lady Gayle Manchin, representatives from Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia, Inc., Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, the West Virginia Board of Education and the West Virginia Department of Education to recognize Gretchen Shaffer, West Virginia’s 2010 Teacher of the Year.
Gretchen is a math teacher at Morgantown High School in Monongalia County. She has a passion for helping students be the best they can be, and she shows it every day in the classroom.
Among the many reasons Gretchen deserves this award and was selected to hold this year’s title, she created an afterschool ACT/SAT prep class that has helped many students increase their scores enough to qualify for the PROMISE Scholarship.
Gretchen earned her National Board Teaching Certification in Adolescent and Young Adulthood Mathematics in 2008. She received the Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award in 2009 and is one of West Virginia’s model teachers in algebra and geometry. She also was chosen to participate in the West Virginia Department of Education’s Teacher Leadership Institute in 2007, and has written problem-based learning units that are included in the department’s Teach21 Web site. In addition, Gretchen is the sponsor of Morgantown High School’s Student Council.
She, like many other teachers, considers her greatest accomplishment to be her desire for and ability to build relationships with all of her students.
Gretchen was selected by a committee appointed by the state superintendent of schools to evaluate nine finalists who were county Teacher of the Year winners. Teacher of the Year, a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers, is the longest running awards program honoring classroom teachers in the country, granting its first national award in 1952. West Virginia has participated in this noble award program since 1964.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia Inc., Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield and Smarter Kids Foundation also support the state’s top educator through their donations, and we truly appreciate their annual efforts.
Congratulations Gretchen Shaffer for being selected as the 2010 Teacher of the Year! I applaud her leadership and dedication to the public school system and to her students.
She is one of many great teachers in the Mountain State.