2020 is turning out to possibly be the best year ever! 2019 was a good year, can’t complain, but it included surprise household renovations totally over $20,000 and some personal stuff. However, we are just over 1 month into 2020 I don’t think I can handle 12 months of this awesomeness. In short here are the blessings our household has received in the past month:
I got a scholarship to study at Oxford(CANCELLED due to coronavirus)We’re going to Ireland for 2 weeks this summer(CANCELLED due to coronavirus)I am chaperoning a spring break trip to London & Paris(CANCELLED due to coronavirus)- Will got Teacher of the Year for Seminole County
Each of these opportunities deserves their own blog post & I am going to give them their due, second post in the line is on Will’s award as Teacher of the Year!
During the fall of 2019 Will got named Oviedo High School’s Teacher of the Year and that started a months-long process (that is still going on) of being selected by the school, writing what felt like a million essays, then he was chosen as a semi-finalist for the high school competition, which was followed by a nerve-wracking observation, and then Will being named our district’s High School Teacher of the Year. Already, by that point we were incredibly happy with all the love and recognition he was receiving.
Will is incredibly competitive and he was putting in his all to get High School Teacher of the Year. The next level was to “win it all” by being named SCPS Teacher of the Year. Thankfully for our household sanity though, there was nothing left for him to do but wait…and wait until the banquet in February where the winner would be anxiously announced.
As you already know, he WON!!! I nearly lost my mind with joy and relief. The other two teachers, the Elementary and Middle School winners, are incredibly talented ladies and I do not know how the committee can even bring themselves to make a decision. This is not to lessen Will’s award, but I can’t image the way you evaluate those three different fields against each other to pick THE ONE.
Did you think it was over? Not a chance. Now onto the state competition! I asked Will if he is going to go to that competition with the same vigor as he did for the district-level one and in short his answer was, sort of. At this point there is nothing more he can do but be himself at the conference in Tallahassee this summer (which is taking place during my Oxford program). All the teachers who make it this far are excellent teachers, the state will decided who among them they want them to represent in 2021. Regardless, Will is going to give it all the meticulous attention to detail he gives anything.
Either way, win or lose, he is the best and most dedicated teacher I know.
JMF
