Hamline University’s distinguished history with the Minnesota Teacher of the Year award continued to grow this spring, as five Hamline alumni were named semifinalists for the prestigious award.
Each year, Education Minnesota – the 86,000-member statewide educators union – recognizes one outstanding educator from Minnesota’s pool of pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers. Four of the past nine award recipients were graduates of Hamline’s School of Education and Leadership (HSEL).
This year, Hamline is proud to announce the following five alumni were included among 159 semifinalists for Minnesota Teacher of the Year:
- Katherine Horstmann, Master of Arts in Literacy Education ’22, kindergarten teacher at Forest Hills Elementary in Oak Point;
- Alaina Zapata-Sirek, Master of Arts in Literacy Education ’23, educator at Early Learning Center in Edina;
- Sarah Stout, Master of Arts in Literacy Education ’18, English teacher at Farmington Area Public Schools in Farmington;
- Monica Grubb, Master of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages ’18 and English Second Language License ’10, English language teacher at Hopkins School District in Hopkins;
- Tracy Ivy, Doctorate in Education ’21, instructor at Minnetonka High School in Minnetonka.
Last spring, Hamline alumnus Michael Houston ’11 was named the 2023 Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Houston, a mathematics teacher at Harding High School in Saint Paul Public Schools, completed his masters degree in education at HSEL.
The Hamline School of Education and Leadership offers undergraduate, masters and doctoral programs, as well as a licensure program for aspiring K-12 educators.
