Emporia Middle School has nominated two outstanding teachers for the distinction of 2019 Kansas Teacher of the Year.
Shely Perez, a sixth-grade family and consumer sciences teacher, and Robert Ovsak a middle school AVID teacher were surprised with the nominations during a gathering of Middle School staff and representatives from the school district in the EMS library Wednesday morning.
Perez, who was nominated as the Kansas elementary teacher of the year, has spent the past seven years of her 29-year career at the middle school teaching family and consumer sciences. She says a major part of her job is preparing her students for life after the classroom, which she adds is just as rewarding for her as it is her students.
Robert Ovsak, nominated for Kansas secondary teacher of the year, has spent the past 11 years at EMS teaching in the AVID program. Before that, he began his career overseas in China before relocating to Arizona where he spent two years.
Ovsak says he was overwhelmed by the nomination as his greatest joy as a teacher is not the recognition, but the growth of his students.
The Kansas Teacher of the Year award winners will be announced during a banquet in September.
