Kevin Winters receives the Milken Educator Award from of Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, left, and Dr. Gary Stark, president and CEO of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, right.
ATHENS, Tenn. – In front of hundreds of students and his fellow educators, an Athens City Middle School teacher received a $25,000 surprise Tuesday morning.
Kevin Winters, a master teacher with the school’s Teacher Advancement Program, received the Milken Educator Award, referred to as the “Oscars of Teaching” by Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, who presented the award with Gary Stark, president and CEO of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching.
Winters learned he received the prestigious award during a surprise assembly that teachers were told was called to celebrate improvements in the school’s math scores.
“There’s no way that I would be up here at all if the staff here, and the leadership of this school and in this system, didn’t help prepare me,” Winters said. “And it is a testament to everybody in this building, because you all helped me become the teacher that I am, and I hope that you know how much respect I have for each and every one of you.”
Winters, a six-year teacher who has spent three years at Athens City Middle – and who is a graduate of the middle school himself – received his bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Wesleyan College and his master’s in instructional leadership at Tennessee Tech University.