Ms. Suarez given ‘Outstanding Teacher’ award and $10,000 prize

By Gehenna N.

“I feel so honored.”

That’s what science teacher Ms. Michelle Suarez said when she was nominated for and given the award called “the Carlston Outstanding Teachers Of America” award.

She was nominated by a former student of hers called Celeste G. who graduated back in 2018. 

This award is only given to four teachers and Ms. Suarez was the youngest teacher to win it.

“I feel so humbled and intimidated,” she shared.

This is because teachers who have been nominated for the award have taught at least 20 to 30 years in their schools, while Ms. Suarez has 9 years of teaching experience. 

“It’s still surreal that It already happened and I already got it,” she said. “I feel I don’t deserve it, especially because these couple of years have been so difficult and I haven’t felt like an outstanding teacher.”

However, the student that nominated disagrees with this statement.

According to Ms. Suarez, for a teacher to get nominated by a student, the student has to go through so many steps to prove to the board that they are an outstanding teacher like filling out forms and conducting interviews.

Ms. Suarez had to fly to the Bay Area where the ceremony took place and it was only until then that she came to know the identity of the student who had nominated her because it had been kept a secret.

After the student’s speech and Ms. Suarez’s speech, she was even more surprised to know that she had not only won the award but also $10,000 for herself and an additional $5,000 for the school.

Ms. Suarez gets to decide how those additional $5,000 should be spent, but she doesn’t quite know how yet.

”I wanna get feedback from the students and teachers on how they think $5,000 should be spent in a meaningful way,“ she said.

However when she was asked what her plans are on spending her $10,000 she said, “That’s a great question. I should probably ask Mr. Wilson about it”. 

“It’s a huge honor. There is nothing more amazing than to be recognized by a student,” she said. “If the students think I’m a teacher who impacted their lives in a good way, that means everything to me.”

She has no words to describe how happy she feels about being nominated and recognized. 

To watch the awards ceremony, click on this link.