The Horace Mann Company handed out the 27th annual Educator of the Year Awards Monday.
Pre-K teacher, Dee Dee Duffy says it is more than the cash award recipients receive that gets her out the door every school day.
“I know this is my job to take care of those children at school. I have my four at home but those forty that I have at school need me; they need me to do my job and encourage and motivate them” says Duffy.
As educator of the year, Duffy received a $1, 000 dollar cash award.
Administrator of the Year, Nichole Heyen–principal of Lincoln Magnet School–was also recognized at a luncheon Monday.
“Quite honestly, the students come up ideas and bring them to me and I say ‘sure, let’s see how we can integrate this.’ We are all teachers, including the students” Heyen says.
Both say they will use the money for classroom supplies.