A central Iowa high school teacher is in the running to become America’s next favorite teacher.

Matt Heston, a math teacher at Knoxville High School, has advanced to the group finals for the “America’s Favorite Teacher” contest, a national competition where teachers across the country compete for the title, a grand prize and a feature in Reader’s Digest.

Heston, a teacher at Knoxville for more than two decades, received the second most votes in his initial group of nearly 100 teachers. Now, he’s advancing to the group finals alongside the other top five vote-getters. The public will vote to select one preliminary winner who will move on to a quarterfinal among all groups.

Voting in the group finals began on March 27 and ends on April 3. The grand prize winner will be announced on May 31.

“I didn’t get in teaching for the honors, but it’s sure nice for people to notice you’ve been doing a good job,” Heston told GoKnoxvilleTV.

What does the winner of America’s Favorite Teacher get?

Besides the feature in Reader’s Digest, one teacher chosen as America’s Favorite Teacher will receive a $25,000 cash prize, a trip to Hawaii and an opportunity to speak at a school assembly with popular science educator Bill Nye.

How would Matt Heston spend America’s Favorite Teacher prize money?

If he wins the contest, Heston said he would allocate $10,000 of his winnings to his daughter’s college fund, $10,000 to start a scholarship for Knoxville High School students pursuing education careers and use the remaining $2,500 to treat his wife to a vacation.

To vote for Heston, visit his page at the America’s Favorite Teacher website.

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.

The NFL Draft is one of the next big items on the agenda for the sports world. While no former Iowa State player is expected to hear his name called in the first round, a handful are predicted to be selected over the course of the event.

ESPN’s Matt Miller compiled not only a first round NFL Mock Draft recently, but an entire seven round one. Miller has the Tennessee Titans grabbing Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick, someone Cyclone faithful are familiar with.

Ward played the first half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl last year vs. Iowa State. He opted to sit out after halftime as the Cyclones mounted a thrilling comeback victory. 

Three former Big 12 standouts are tabbed for selection among the first 32 picks led by Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan is the other from the league, as all three are off the board by pick No. 6.

The NFL Draft takes place April 24-26 from Green Bay, Wisconsin. It will air on NFL Network, NFL+, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.

Here is where ESPN has former Iowa State players selected in the mock draft:

No. 47: Jaylin Noel, WR

Noel is picked here with an early second round selection by the Arizona Cardinals. Miller writes “Noel is a slippery route runner with excellent start-stop quickness and sure hands.” He notes that his performance at the Senior Bowl helped position him to be selected here, adding, “he ran a 4.39 in the 40 at the combine and moved even higher up my board.”

No. 59: Darien Porter, CB

Big, strong cornerbacks are always going to be of interest in the NFL Draft, especially with teams from the AFC North. The Baltimore Ravens grab one here, as Porter is 6-foot-3 and over 210 pounds. Add in his 4.3 speed and Miller writes, “he’s an immediate special teams asset who could develop into a promising man or zone defender.”

No. 62: Jayden Higgins, WR

Noel’s running mate gets to catch passes from Josh Allen, as the Buffalo Bills grab the 6-3, 215-pounder just before the second round concludes. Miller notes that Higgins is “a true X receiver and has the ability to consistently win on breaking routes underneath.” He would form a solid trio with Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman.

No. 154: Jalen Travis, OT

The New York Giants, who have some newcomers stepping in at quarterback, will be happy to see the team draft Travis, a hulking offensive tackle. Travis checks all the boxes, coming in at 6-7 and almost 350 pounds.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Dust off those dancing shoes. It’s time to clog.

Clog dancing dates back centuries, originating from different forms of Irish, English, Scottish, German, Cherokee and African dances.

But it wasn’t until the 1970s that clogging took Iowa by storm, and cloggers will tell you it’s not the same as square dancing.

“It is different that we do have taps on our shoes,” one clogger told TV9’s Kevin Kendall in 1979. “We do have a lot of movements out there that are used in square dancing.”

Clogging does adopt some movements from square dancing, but it can incorporate many different types of music. At the time, disco music was a popular choice among some cloggers.

“That’s for the young ones. We can’t hardly keep up with them. That’s for the kids, that’s what they use is the disco tunes”

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