by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Carol Mead, a Sauk Rapids-Rice teacher, is a nominee for Minnesota Teacher of the Year after recently being named as Teacher of the Year by the school district.
Mead teaches kindergarten at Mississippi Heights Elementary School.
Mead is one of 114 candidates for the state honor.
A 25-member panel is now trimming that list to finalists, and the 52nd Minnesota Teacher of the Year will be announced May 15 at the Radisson in Bloomington.
Mead has taught kindergarten for nine years at Mississippi Heights and currently has 23 kindergartners under her wing.
In a Jan. 15 Newsleader feature about Mead’s being named Teacher of the Year by the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District, she had this to say:
“I believe you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and my colleagues are amazing,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without their help and support through the journey. They are an important part of why I received this award.”
Mead never had a second thought about deciding to become a teacher.
“I still love it,” she said. “I absolutely love it.”
She was nominated as Teacher of the Year by Kathy Kopetka, a third-grade teacher at Mississippi Heights. Once nominated, she was interviewed by a panel that included other teachers, the principal and union reps.
What did she feel when she learned of the honor?
“I was excited,” she said. “Excited but humbled.”
Sauk Rapids-Rice Teacher of the Year Carol Mead was presented a vase of roses and daisies as part of her honor. She is a kindergarten teacher at Mississippi Heights Elementary School in Sauk Rapids.
