North Dakota 2024 county teachers of the year announced

By Forum staff

May 01, 2024 at 7:02 PM

BISMARCK — North Dakota K-12 Superintendent Kirsten Baesler announced the 2024 county teachers of the year on Wednesday, May 1.

Forty-nine teachers were chosen from a pool of 356 different nominees for the honor, according to a news release from the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. Two teachers were chosen from LaMoure County, as they tied in the award's scoring system. The ultimate goal of the program is for one teacher to be represented from each of the state's 53 counties.

The county teachers of the year were:

Adams: Anna Block, Hettinger Public School
Barnes: Tresa Cruff, Barnes County North
Benson: Abel Sacatani, Warwick Public School
Billings: Jennifer O’Brien, Prairie Elementary School
Bottineau: Casey Mills, Westhope Public School
Bowman: Amy Burke, Bowman County
Burke: Whitney Rick, Burke Central
Burleigh: Kendall Bergrud, Wachter Middle School
Cass: Deb Pieper, West Fargo High School
Cavalier: Lane Lindseth, Langdon Area Schools
Dickey: Anna Kemmer, Southeast Region Career and Technology Center, Oakes
Divide: Rayme Haggin, Divide County Elementary
Dunn: Vicki Carney, Killdeer Public School
Emmons: Kadie Walls, Linton Public School
Foster: Kristen Hewitt, Carrington High School
Golden Valley: Chelsey Erdmann, Lincoln Elementary
Grand Forks: John Stempinski, Valley Middle School
Grant: Kayla Tatro, Roosevelt Public School, Carson
Griggs: Kayla Danielson, Griggs County Central
Hettinger: Eamon Alido, Mott Regent Public School
Kidder: Danielle Wachter, Kidder County Public School
LaMoure: Cameron Young, Edgeley Public School; Heidi Mathern, Edgeley Public School
Logan: Christina Gross, Napoleon Public School
McHenry: Emma Cook, TGU Towner
McIntosh: Alli Mogen, Wishek Public School
McKenzie: Tiffany Olson, Fox Hills Elementary
McLean: Seleena Briones, White Shield School
Mercer: Katie Isaak, Beulah Elementary School
Morton: Mary McHugh, Sweet Briar School
Mountrail: Erica McRae, Parshall High School
Nelson: Jill Wall, Lakota Elementary School
Oliver: Lynn Schwalk, Center-Stanton High School
Pembina: Heather Lafferty, North Border
Pierce: Ashleigh Blikre, Ely Elementary
Ramsey: Kelly Anderson, Sweetwater Elementary
Ransom: Ashley Nudell, Lisbon Public Schools
Renville: Chaleigh Clark, MLS Mohall
Richland: Kristi Nordick, Zimmerman Elementary
Rolette: Brooke Zupan, St. John’s Public School
Sheridan: Lucas Senske, McClusky-Goodrich High School
Sioux: Tessa Jahner, Solen High School
Steele: Denise Carlson, Finley-Sharon Public School
Stutsman: Charity Dosch, Montpelier Public School
Traill: Wendy Dafforn, Hatton Eielson School
Walsh: Trisha Cole, Park River Area School
Ward: Macie Harris-Nelson, Kenmare Public Schools
Wells: Angel Opdahl, Central Regional Special Education Unit
Williams: Kari Hall, Williston High School

The county winners are eligible to apply for the state teacher of the year award. The 2025 teacher of the year will be announced in a Sept. 27 ceremony at the Capitol, the release said.

The current teacher of the year is Sheila Peterson, a physical education teacher at Wachter Middle School in Bismarck.

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By Forum staff

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of "staff." Often, the "staff" byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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