Friday, Oct. 5 is World Teacher Appreciation Day.
As many of us know, teachers are often underpaid and undervalued, yet they are incredibly important members of our community, who help shape our children's lives and create the leaders of tomorrow.
San Mateo Patch and Foster City Patch are on the hunt to find one of our most influential and beloved local teachers, so we can reward him or her with prizes and say thanks for all he or she does.
Nominate your favorite teacher - or, parents, nominate your favorite out of all your children's teachers - and tell us why he or she is so special and deserves to win our Teacher Appreciation Contest, in the comments section of this article below.
Teachers from all public and private schools located in San Mateo or Foster City, who teach kindergarten through 12th grade, are eligible to win.
The local San Mateo or Foster City teacher who wins the most nominations or votes will be given two hours of volunteer time by a Patch editor! The editor will come to the teacher's classroom and help with whatever the teacher needs that day, be it talking to the students about journalism or other community issues, or even just cleaning desks and sharpening pencils.
In addition, since all 13 Peninsula Patch sites are holding this contest, we will also select a grand prize-winning teacher. The teacher that receives, overall, the most nominations or votes out of all 13 winning teachers will also receive a $50 gift card to purchase school supplies with, in addition to the two volunteer hours.
Nominations and votes can be logged on this article through 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11. The winning teachers will be announced bright and early Friday morning, Oct. 12.
So, please nominate your favorite teacher below, and feel free to upload a photo of him or her as well!
**Note: To nominate or vote for a teacher, please include the teacher's name AND the school and grade he or she teaches for!
Please SHARE this article with friends and family so they can nominate and vote for their teachers as well!
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
2. To nominate or vote for a teacher, enter a comment in the comments section of this article. Please be sure to include the teacher's name AND the school and grade he/she teaches for.
3. All entries must be received by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11. The winner will be announced in Patch's morning newsletter on Friday, Oct. 12.
4. You may enter a teacher once. You may choose to nominate more than one teacher, but you may only enter each teacher once.
5. One winning teacher from a San Mateo or Foster City school will be declared the local winner, based on who receives the most nominations or votes in the comments. In addition, the winning teacher from all 13 Peninsula Patch sites who receives the most votes overall will also win a grand prize.
6. Prizes: The winning local teacher will receive two hours of volunteer time from the Patch editor of his/her hometown Patch site. The teacher and editor will agree upon a day that works for both parties, and the editor will come to the teacher's classroom to help out with whatever the teacher needs that day, for a period of two hours. In addition, the grand prize-winning teacher out of all 13 Peninsula Patch sites will also receive a $50 gift card toward the purchase of school supplies. The teacher can choose his or her favorite school supply store that Patch will purchase the gift card from.
7. To see a complete list of Patch's official contest rules, see the Word document in the photo section of this article, which is downloadable.
Have a favorite teacher from another Peninsula city you wish to nominate? Visit all 13 of our Patch sites on the Peninsula to vote in their Teacher Appreciation contests too:
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I nominate Ms.Kristine Ayala,my son's 5th grade teacher as one among the best because of her positive attitude towards each and every kid.Her boisterous,bubbly nature paves a lively atmosphere in the classroom and even the most reclusive child starts blooming!!!
My son will look back and remember her with the fondest of memories.
Second, Jennifer Wei, also at Aragon, and a great English teacher and mentor for her students. Ms. Wei is available on weekends if necessary to help students get a little extra input on essays. She's available after school for all sort of support. She's massively friendly and approachable, and clearly just loves teenagers. And she is reportedly hysterical in class, with antics like crazy jokes and expressing how much passion she has for a book by..biting it as if to eat it. She makes AP English fun, and is loved by every single person I know who knows her.