WE'VE GOT A WINNER: Mitchell, Macnab named regional Teachers of the Year
The Dalles, Ore., Sept. 21, 2023 - Fifth Grade Dry Hollow Elementary Teacher Wesley Mitchell had some surprise visitors today.
Karen Caulfield an accountant with the Oregon Lottery and an entourage of local teachers and administrators marched down to his classroom to give him a fat check.
No, he did not win the lottery. But something better, we’d say.
The Oregon Lottery named him a regional Teacher of the Year for his dedication and hard work with the youth in our community.
“You were nominated by both a peer and a parent of one of your students. It was noted that your dedication and equity, empathy, and respectful nature and passion for meeting students where they are has made you not only a successful teacher but an exemplary one.
It is what makes you a teacher leader not only at this school but for the state as well,” Caulfield said before students broke into some uproarious clapping.
Mitchell was also given a $1,000 check.
Lottery, which has donated some $9 Billion to school districts across the state since 1995, began selecting Teacher of the Year awards in 2016.
Mitchell was not alone in the award in our area.
Sherman County School’s Ashley Macnab also won the coveted title for her amazing work with students at the school in Moro. She is a first-grade teacher.
“This last week has been so amazing. I had the opportunity to share my steam stations with the governor,” said Ashley Macnab in a Facebook post on Sept. 19.
“I am also so happy to share that I was named the 2023-24 regional Teacher of the Year award today! I thank God for giving me the opportunity to teach these kids every day!”
Macnab started her teaching career in Kindergarten at Dry Hollow Elementary.