Sorenson Named Teacher of the Year

On March 29, Jacque Sorensen won Teacher of the Year (TOY) in District 241 for the 2016-17 school year. The ceremony was held in the ALHS commons area. All the nominees were introduced: Matt Bitz, fifth grade teacher at Lakeview Elementary; Kris Burnett, kindergarten teacher at Hawthorne Elementary; Kevin Gentz, math teacher at ALHS; Paula Olson, English and Teacher at the ALC;

and Kristen Seeger, media specialist at Lakeview and Sibley Elementary schools. Previous TOY winners, Margo Wayne and Todd Lange were the masters of ceremony.
Sorensen has been teaching for 23 years; seven years at Southwest, 12 years at Sibley and Lakeview and the last four years at Hawthorne teaching students with special needs in second through fourth grade. She is also a member of the Teacher of the Year committee, along with the reading and math committee and district intervention committee.
“Being nominated is a fabulous honor and very appreciated,” Sorensen said. “Being nominated is always surprising because we all live busy lives. Knowing that someone took time out of their day to write a letter is amazing.”
When Sorensen is not teaching she likes to be involved in her kids activities as well as reading and visiting with family and friends. Her family is active in their church, 4-H, supermileage and trap shooting.
Sorensen loves working with the students and families.
Sorensen did not believe she was going to win.
“There are other candidates whom I thought was going to get the 2017 TOY,” Sorensen said. “It really caught me off guard! If I can be the representative of the staff and students, I’m just glad to be able to do that.”