Nominees announced for 2017 Muscogee County teacher of the year

The 56 nominees for the Muscogee County School District 2017 Teacher of the Year award were announced Thursday.

The Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation, the nonprofit organization that conducts MCSD’s Teacher of the Year program, honored the nominees with a ceremony in Legacy Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.

“We are delighted, on behalf of the Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation, to recognize you and reward you,” MEEF administrator Marquette McKnight, president of Media Marketing and More, told the nominees.

The staff of each MCSD school nominated a teacher to compete for the award. The foundation’s selection committee will evaluate their applications and will choose semifinalists to interview and finalists to observe teaching before announcing the winner during the May 4 gala in the Columbus Convention & Trade Center.

MCSD superintendent David Lewis thanked MEEF for its partnership with the school district. Then he praised the nominees.

“You represent the highest ideals of teaching by giving your students your all – your knowledge, your creativity and your ongoing support,” Lewis said. “You believe in them, often seeing in them something that they don’t see in themselves. You empower them to dream beyond their circumstances and help them to see a brighter future that they also may not see for themselves. And then you help them to realize those dreams and aspirations, and, in doing so, you help to make our community a better, stronger, more desirable place to work and live.”

MEEF is dedicated to fostering educational excellence by helping and honoring innovative and effective teachers. In its 21-year history, the foundation has awarded educators more than $2.1 million through the Teacher of the Year and other programs or grants, McKnight said.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Nominees announced for 2017 Muscogee County teacher of the year."