MAIZE, Kansas –- A Maize teacher is being honored as one of the best educators in the country. The elementary teacher is the recipient of a national award that came as a complete surprise to her.
Jeanie Padron wakes up her 4th grade students every morning with a dance party to get their bodies and brains going for the day.
“She's the best teacher I’ve ever had,” said one of her students.
And now she’s one of the best in the country.
Students gathered for a surprise assembly Wednesday to honor the Maize Central Elementary School teacher. Padron received a $25,000 award from the Milken Family Foundation some call the ‘Oscar’ of teaching. She is one of 55 educators in the country and the only one in Kansas to receive the distinction this year.
“I'm really just honored beyond honored,” she said.
She’s honored and humbled.
“We don't come here to this job to earn awards,” she said. “The award to me is seeing my kids grow from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”
It’s a job Padron calls the best in the world.
“You do it because you love kids,” she said.
Padron said she plans to throw her class a pizza party, buy some school supplies, take a trip to Hawaii and give some money to her mom who was her inspiration to become a teacher.
