MITCHELL, SD (KELO AM) 4th grade teacher Amanda Christensen thought she was going to just a normal school assembly Wednesday morning at Longfellow Elementary in Mitchell. Boy, was she wrong!
Christensen is one of only 35 teachers nationwide to win the Milken Education Award, often called the Oscar of Teaching.
"I was immediatelly scooped up and mobbed in a giant group hug by all these kids who were just so estactic and my jaw was on the floor yet," Christensen told KELO Radio News, describing the surprise moment when Governor Dennis Daugaard announced she had won the $25,000 award.
One example of Christensen going the extra mile is the program she has developed with LifeQuest, a local organization working with adults with disabilities. The disabled adults are invited into her classroom, so her students can read books to them, and then in the spring, her kids go to LifeQuest to replant flower beds.
"I love teaching. It's not a job for me, it's a passion, it's who I am, it's part of who I am. I'm just so blessed to get up and go to school every day," said Christensen.
She said she is going to sit down with her husband and have a conversation about what to do with the $25,000.
