BP celebrates 20 years of honoring educators

MAT-SU — If there’s one thing winners of the BP Teacher of Excellence and Teacher of the Year awards have in common, it has to be humility.

In the past 20 years, BP has recognized hundreds of teachers in Alaska alone for their “exceptional work,” according to a recent press release. But as extraordinary as their work may be, these teachers seem to think they could do more.

“I was shocked to be in the top five, and then they selected me as the teacher of the year,” said Colony High School teacher Fred McKenney, who won the 2014 award. “I was listening to the other guys’ biographies and I’m going, ‘god, these guys are good.’”

McKenney said he had been nominated just about every year he’s been teaching, but had never followed up on the written portion required to essentially accept the nomination.

Last year, Colony’s principal, Cyd Duffin, finally urged him to.

“When your boss wants you to do something, you go ahead and do it,” McKenney said.

When he won, however, he had mixed feelings about it.

“I (felt) almost bad taking this award because there are people who work a lot harder than I do,” he said.

The award for a Teacher of Excellence is $500 for use in furthering their education, and a $500 matching grant to their school. Teachers of the Year receive an additional $1,500 for furthering their education, which McKenney, a history teacher, used to visit and learn more about historical sites around the United States, such as Mt. Rushmore, the Little Bighorn Battlefield and sites in Salem, Massachusetts.

McKenney said there was more significance to his acceptance of the award than being able to take a fun and informative trip, however.

“I accept the award because… it recognizes all the teachers at Colony, not just me,” he said.

Beckie Miller, a Shaw Elementary School fourth and fifth grade teacher, had a similar feeling of “I don’t deserve this” when she was named a Teacher of Excellence. She said she wanted to “nominate the whole school,” as well a special team of teachers who work with her and a few deaf education students.

“It takes all of us to help the special needs person,” Miller said. “It takes all of us to make that child successful.”

Shaw is what Miller calls an “inclusive” school, not separating students with special needs from those engaged in traditional learning. One of Miller’s students, for example, communicates primarily through American Sign Language, which Miller hadn’t learned until she received the BP grant that helped pay for an ASL class.

While there were other teachers available to sign with that student, Miller wanted to be as involved as possible.

“Every once in a while you just wanna be able to have a conversation with your students,” she said.

So now, when she sees that student in the hallway, or at an elementary school basketball game, she can do more than just wave.

The personal recognition one receives with the BP Teacher of Excellence award is “amazing” too, Miller said, but what the community receives is much greater.

“It makes people stop and think about their teachers, and I think it adds to the public view of what education is,” she said, of the award.

In McKenney’s mind, there’s not much better than that.

“I was in the military for 25 years, and I really believe that defending our country is the most important thing you can do. But the second most important thing is to build our nation, and how we build our nation is educate our kids,” he said.

To nominate a teacher for BP’s Teacher of Excellence and Teacher of the Year awards, and see a list of past winners, visit bpteachers.com. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Jan. 30. Winners will be announced March 30.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.