‘I love this profession’: Bangor High teacher named a state finalist for 2025 Maine Teacher of the Year

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Next month we will know who will be named Maine’s Teacher of the Year.

Three nominees teach in southern Maine — and one at Bangor High School.

TV5 sat down with Dr. Emilie Throckmorton from Penobscot County to hear about why she wanted to go into education.

”I love using stories to sort of talk about life. I also really love helping kids learn to write and find their own voice in writing,” Throckmorton said.

There are two reasons why this teacher has loved connecting with students through English at Bangor High School. That is where Dr. Emily Throckmorton started her career, and has stayed for 25 years.

“I’ve been working with different levels of kids, from ninth to 12th grade,” she said.

She says becoming a parent herself almost 20 years ago had a major impact on how she taught her students.

“I think about how I would want my children treated and how I would want them given grace and extra help and patience,” she added.

She says teaching is a profession she highly recommends.

“You get to spend your day with, you know, incredibly honest and funny students,” said Throckmorton. “And even though there are challenges, I don’t want to sugarcoat that, there are things that are really hard about this career. It is such a creative choice, where you get to use problem-solving, and it’s completely creative and original every single day.”

Her own personal education outside of her classroom has kept her busy over the years, getting her masters from the University of Maine and then her doctorate from the University of New England. And while she says her students don’t call her Dr Throckmorton, they may be soon calling her Maine Teacher of the Year.

“I did not expect this to happen. I certainly didn’t seek it out. It sort of came to me.”

Earlier this year she was named the Penobscot County Teacher of the Year and now joins three other teachers in Maine as a finalist for the Maine Department of Education’s top award in teaching.

“Not a shock at all.,” said Bangor High School principal, Paul Butler.

Not a shock to Butler, who says it’s her hard work and dedication to her students that has gotten her this recognition.

“Beyond equal way in my experience of connecting kids to literature in ways that are meaningful to them, getting a pulse on kids, knowing where they are, and being able to have the focus be on literature learning, but also on all those elements of life that will move kids ahead,” Butler said.

She says she’s excited about the opportunity to talk about student issues like mental health awareness and shine a light on all the great work being done here in Bangor.

“I also have been reminded why I’m a teacher and why I love this profession, so much and I’ve met some really incredible people and the other finalists are everybody’s just really professional really smart, really creative, absolutely loves kids loves teaching, so they can’t go wrong,” Throckmorton added.

You can read more about the 2025 Maine Teacher of the Year State Finalists here.

Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.