Garth McCann gave a short history of the Teacher of the Month/Year program and a summary of how the selections are made. He then introduced the Principal, Karen Koehn, of Rice Elementary school in Wellington to introduce the Teacher of the Month. Principal Koehn said that she sent an email to all parents, teachers and staff asking for nominations for the their candidate for Teacher of the Month. And the selection was Kristine McGraw who is currently a 4th grade teacher, but has also been a special education and kindergarten teacher...
 
Kristine McGraw first said that it was fun to leave school in the middle of the day and that she accepts the award not only for herself, but for the whole staff at Rice. Kristine told us that her inspiration to become a teacher came from her mother, also an outstanding teacher. She also said that Rotary is recognized by the school system community as an inspiration to teachers. She ended with a heart tugging story about the joy of seeing fresh faces of students in the morning and thinking you have all of their attention on your subject when one student has a hand raised. When call on, the student says, “I Love You”. What other story could Kristine tell us that gives us the feeling that she deserves the Teacher of the Month award.