BURWELL-(KFOR Oct. 7)-Megan Helberg, an English teacher at Burwell Junior/Senior High School in Burwell, was named the Nebraska 2020 Teacher of the Year Monday during a surprise award presentation.

Helberg was one of four finalists for the Nebraska Teacher of the Year award. Mark Gudgel of Omaha North High Magnet School in Omaha, Robert Kerr of Hastings High School in Hastings, and Erin Meyer of West Elementary School in Sidney were also finalists and will be recognized as Award of Excellence winners.

Helberg started her teaching career at Papillion-La Vista Public Schools. She currently teaches 8th, 11th, and 12th grade English at Burwell Junior/Senior High School, where she has been since 2010.

Helberg wrote in her Teacher of the Year application that her goal in teaching is to bring a broader perspective of the world to her students.

“My biggest accomplishment in education has been exposing my students to people, places, and events they would not have access to except through my classroom,” Helberg wrote. “The concept that a different way of life even exists is foreign to many of my students. I feel that it is my responsibility to bring the world to my students. I must keep taking steps to accomplish the ultimate goal of reaching the entire community about various races, religions, and ways of life.”

Helberg has worked to achieve that goal by creating lessons about the Holocaust and hosting video chats with speakers and classrooms from different countries.

Helberg will participate in the National Teacher of the Year competition later this year

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