It was a normal day at school for Family and Consumer Science teacher Cara Poole. While engaging in a routine check of her e-mail inbox she discovered that she was one of the two teachers nominated in the district for the Kansas Teacher of the Year Award.

“I felt honored, it was nice of them.” Poole said.

The Kansas Teacher of the Year award is held yearly. The award is meant to recognize teachers who do an exemplary job in their day-to-day work. Candidates are from all over the state of Kansas, including a wide range of subjects.

“I like to teach things, especially in the kitchen. There’s a lot to learn about teamwork and problem solving,” Poole said. “A lot of that’s more important than any of the end results anyways. [It’s] the process to get there, and that’s what I really like about [teaching].”

Poole was one out of the two teachers nominated in the Maize School District for this award. Each school district gets two nominations total, one for elementary classroom and the other for secondary classrooms.

“If somebody says you’re doing a good job, it makes you do better because you want to keep doing a good job and keep things new and different,” Poole said.

Poole will attend a dinner on Sept. 12 where the award committee will announce which teachers were chosen for the the semi-finals.