Originally from Manitou Springs, Colorado, Bethany Gray took a circuitous route that landed her at Globe’s High Desert Middle School, where she inspired eighth-grade parents and peers enough to win this year’s Gila County Teacher of the Year award. One nominator described how Gray “inspires more students to be interested in science and holds her students to a higher standard of behavior in her class,” adding that Gray “finds time to tutor students in math and other subjects. She started a gardening club with the students and taught them about growing plants.” 
Bethany Gray earned a bachelor’s degree in US History at the University of California San Diego before starting her educator’s career as a park ranger at some of the Southwest’s most iconic national parks. Pulled to study wildlife biology, she completed three years of graduate work at NAU, leading to a series of jobs as a field biologist around the Southwest.

“I have family in central Arizona and as the years passed, I began to crave the stability of a more regulated work experience,” she said. “A close friend at the time suggested I apply for a teaching position nearby, and I was hired as a middle school teacher at a small Montessori school. Outside our classroom was a pre-existing garden enclosure that needed a lot of TLC. I’m not sure where I would be without that critical event, but I know I would not be the same person I am today.

“Middle school chose me, and I chose those kids right back. Many of them graduate this year and some even started college last year. They keep me up to date. They also inspire me with their curiosity, the paths they choose and the things that make an impact on them. I finally feel like I’ve found my homeplace here in teaching, and I was recently able to add a Master’s in Education to my own education. My first year in Globe has been utterly transformative, just as my first-year teaching middle school was. There is a mixture and magic here that is not duplicated in Arizona. I feel very lucky to be part of the team that works with these kids, to connect them to community and make sure they also see that the world awaits them.”

Runner-up Marne Perez teaches special education to preschoolers at Rice Primary School in San Carlos. Her nominator described how Perez “writes lessons filled with activities that keep students engaged and learning. These activities include storytelling, role-playing, singing, while sometimes being animated to keep students’ attention. She incorporates early childhood standards from Teaching Strategies Gold and uses data-driven decisions to support student learning.”

Runner-up Jennifer Madrid, a physics teacher at San Carlos High School, has been teaching the subject for 19 years. She has worked as a research advisor, robotics coach, mentor teacher, National Honor Society advisor and Project Lead the Way biomedical science teacher. She is currently the physics and research (bioscience) teacher, and science coordinator, at San Carlos High School. Her nominator wrote: “Jennifer Madrid has been making an impact on the students’ lives as a science and also honors teacher at San Carlos High School. She gets her kids to do community service activities and then reinforces the student to see their own impact/value on the community.”