West De Pere Middle School teacher wins Wisconsin Teacher of the Year

DE PERE, Wis. (WBAY) – A local teacher from West De Pere Middle School has been named one of five winners of Wisconsin’s 2025 Teacher of the Year.

Eighth-grade English language arts teacher, Bethany Counard was given a surprise ceremony during a school assembly this afternoon.

Family, students, and faculty were joined by members of the board of education to give the award.

A teacher can receive this after being nominated by the community for the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation’s “Teacher Fellowship”.

After an interviewing process, five of them are selected for this award.

Counard said she was surprised and left at a loss for words.

“The people that I work with now, have worked with in the past…teaching is such a team profession,” said Counard. “I felt overwhelmed just to hear my name.”

Officials say these five teachers will do one final interview with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for a chance to represent the state at the Council of Chief State School Officer’s National Teacher of the Year program in Washington DC.

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