ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Two teachers from Roanoke County are being honored with a national teaching award.
Northside Middle School eighth-grade co-teachers, Amber Benson and Ruby Voss, were recognized by the Association of Middle-Level Education with the National Educator of the Year Award.
“We love what we do and we know that teaching eighth-grade math is not for everyone but to say look we are really awesome at this thing that we do is incredible,” said Benson.
“We have a very unique perspective, I think. We think learning should be fun,” added Voss.
At first, the pair said they weren’t going to apply for the award because it’s typically an individual award, but they won it, together, just like they do everything.
“That’s the best part. Something we have run into before is that people see us as individuals, and we kept trying to say, we are a team. You guys don’t understand we are a team,” explained Voss.
Not only were they honored with a ceremony at NMS on Monday afternoon, but they also heard from former students and their parents in a video message.
“That’s the best, that’s the absolute best when we can establish relationships with the parents and the kids, that’s how we get them to do math,” said Voss.
The duo will be recognized at the annual conference of the Association of Middle-Level Education this November.