April 29, 2008

Oregon Science Teacher To Be Named National Teacher of the Year

Michael Geisen, a science teacher at Crook County Middle School in Prineville, Oregon, will be named 2008 National Teacher of the Year by President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony tomorrow, in an event with all of the 2008 state teachers of the year.

 

Geisen was born in Seattle, Washington, on April 27, 1973, and graduated in 1991 from Kentridge High School in Kent, Washington.

He received his bachelor’s degree in Forest Resource Management from the University of Washington in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He began his professional career as a forester but while this was satisfying work for a while, eventually he missed the direct connection with people. Geisen earned a Master of Arts in Teaching, with a science endorsement, from Southern Oregon University in 2001 and began teaching that fall at Crook County Middle School. He is married to Jennifer Geisen and they have two children ages eight and five.

 

Geisen is the 58th National Teacher of the Year. He will begin a year as a full-time national and international spokesperson for education on June 1, 2008. The other 2008 National Teacher of the Year finalists are Lewis Chappelear, an engineering and design teacher at James Monroe High School in North Hills, California; June Teisan, a science teacher at Harper Woods Secondary School in Harper Woods, Michigan; and Thomas R. Smigiel, Jr., a teen leadership and science teacher at Norview High School in Norfolk, Virginia.

 

The current National Teacher of the Year is Andrea Peterson, an elementary school and board certified music teacher from Granite Falls, Washington. Additional information on the National Teacher of the Year Program can be accessed at http://www.ccsso.org/ntoy.