Emporia Public Schools has a lot of teachers up for state awards this fall.
The nominees joined KVOE for the monthly Showcase program with Superintendent David McGehee on Tuesday. Kate Nicolay, a kindergarten teacher at Logan Avenue Elementary, is up for the 2027 Kansas Horizon Award honoring outstanding first-year teachers. She started thinking about education as a career while in high school.
Josie Schrag is an English Language Arts teacher at Emporia High — who is also up for a Horizon Award. She says she was inspired by others in the teaching profession. She adds there is a special joy to her job.
The district’s nominee for 2027 Kansas Master Teacher is Melissa Johnson, a kindergarten teacher at Riverside Elementary. She recently reached a milestone in her career.
The elementary school nominee for 2028 Kansas Teacher of the Year is Walnut 3rd-grade teacher Amy Fehr. She comes from an education family — and her career path apparently showed itself early in her life.
Heather Rios is the district nominee for Teacher of the Year at the secondary level. Rios is an English as a Second Language instructional strategist at Emporia High. She had plans to go into biology, but that changed after a work-study position at Logan Avenue. She says the challenging kids stand out to her.
Teacher of the Year winners should be announced next week. Horizon Award winners are announced in the winter. Emporia State University announces its Master Teachers in February.
