Being a teacher is hard and often thankless work. One teacher in Devils Lake is getting recognized for her commitment, passion, and love of the profession. For the second time in recent Devils Lake history, a teacher nominated for the North Dakota Teacher of the Year award is now a finalist for that honor. Megan Wasness, who teaches 7th and 8th grade English at Central Middle School, is one of four recipients of the coveted nomination. In 2015 Dawn Johnson from Prairie View Elementary School was also a finalist for ND Teacher of the Year.
The 2024 final four were chosen from a pool of 42 applicants who had previously won their respective county teacher of the year award. Wasness won the 2023 Ramsey County Teacher of the Year award.
Teachers eligible for the award were asked to fill out an application that included questions about what motivates them to teach, how they connect with their students, and what programs are they involved with. After that, she was interviewed by a panel in Bismarck.
Kirsten Baesler, the North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke at a CMS assembly on Wednesday, Sept. 13 to announce this achievement by Wasness. “This is a big deal. A very big deal,” she said. “There are over 10,000 great teachers teaching in our classrooms. And you have one of the 4 very finest of all those teachers in 2024.”
Wasness not only devotes teaching solely in the classroom. Wasness also is a Character Counts advisor, oversees the school newspaper the CMS Press, and organizes the CMS Veterans Day Program and other fundraisers.
“It has been kind of overwhelming and humbling,” Wasness told the Journal. “To have all of this recognition from outside of my classroom has been a little overwhelming.”
A teacher since 2014, Wasness does not seek the spotlight, but would use the opportunity to highlight changes she says are needed in education in the country. “I think as a nation we are seeing a lot of problems in education. We’re seeing a lot of teachers leaving the field because of those problems,” she said. “I think it’s time to rethink education a little bit and how we can better meet the needs of students in 2023 in a system that was built for students in 1893.”
The winner will be announced on Thursday, Sept. 28 at Memorial Hall in the State Capitol at 1 p.m.
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