SPERRY, Okla — It is time to announce our winner for this school year's final Excellent Educator Award.
The winning teacher is from Sperry Public Schools. Lauren Emery teaches math to middle and high school students.
Mattress Firm presented Emery with a certificate for a new mattress.
Melody Anderson, a fellow math teacher, nominated Emery
"I admire everything you do with these students,” Anderson said. “All the work you put into creating lesson plans for them. I get to see some of those. And you are so creative, and you spend so much time trying to make the math make sense. And for them to remember it and learn it. And I just admire that. So, when I saw on the news that they were having 'nominate a teacher,' I thought, 'I know somebody.' So, I nominated you."
Anderson said her coworker does her curriculum, attends weekend trainings, and helps her students on off hours.
After 13 years of teaching young minds, it is a career she seems destined for.
“So, I got a degree in elementary ed, and I've actually been moved up,” Emery said. “Now I teach sixth through twelve. And I really like it. I really like the math. It's something new every day. We have lots of fun."
While helping her students, she continues her education journey alongside them.
"I learn something new all the time,” Emery said. “I thought I knew all the middle school math and high school math. Well, no, I learn something new all the time."
Emery looks to challenge herself every day to overcome the difficult time.
She encourages it in her students and the same thing Anderson sees in this Excellent Educator.
"She cares about her students,” Anderson said. “She gets frustrated when she knows some of them are talking about quitting. It's like, don't, hang in there. She's always encouraging them."
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