Roy Teacher to Learn Friday If She's Top U.S. Educator of the Year

Alexandra Castellanos Smith, who teaches at Sand Ridge Junior High in Roy, on Friday will attend the 2022 Salute to Excellence in Education: Celebrating the Best in Public Education. She's already been named one of five educators to receive the Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence and will receive a $10,000 award. At the event, she or one of the other Mann awardees will receive The NEA Foundation’s NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence and a $25,000 award.

The NEA Foundation holds the annual gala to honor outstanding public school educators and those making a difference in public education. The event is known as the “Academy Awards of Education,” and it will be held in person and virtually.

Educators, friends, and supporters will use the event to celebrate outstanding educators and to reflect on their profession’s essential role. The gala also will recognize 46 public school educators from across the country for exemplary instruction, advocacy for the profession, and staunch support of public education with the California Casualty Awards for Teaching Excellence.

Castellanos Smith wrote an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune that explained her perspective: "My own journey highlights the power of mentoring. My mom was my first teacher, taking time every night to show me the alphabet, basic arithmetic and to teach me how to read in Spanish. I still remember the way she would draw a swan out of the number two to teach me numbers.

Later, when I was sorting out what to do with my college degree, my sister encouraged me to join her as a teacher.

Our district has a relatively new mentorship program, which paired me with a master teacher who checked in weekly and gave me advice and curriculum support. Participating in every aspect of the training made me a better teacher with a sense of self that has influenced the way I view my chosen profession. I credit it for helping me become one of only five recipients this year of the Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence from the NEA Foundation."

Sara A. Sneed, President and CEO, The NEA Foundation and Valeria Lassiter, Chair, The NEA Foundation Board of Directors, will provide remarks at the gala. Laura Coates, CNN Senior Legal Analyst, will serve as host.