McKinney, Texas – Amid a standing ovation, Press Elementary fourth grade teacher Whitney Sellars made her way to the front of the room at the Curtis Culwell Event Center in Garland on Thursday afternoon.

Waiting to greet her was Region 10 Executive Director Dr. Gordon Taylor who presented Sellars with the Region 10 Elementary Teacher of the Year Award. Sellars will now go on to represent Region 10 in the Texas Teacher of the Year contest.

Whitney Sellars addressed the audience at the Region 10 Teacher of the Year Awards luncheon after she was announced as the Region 10 Elementary Teacher of the Year.

“I want to thank you so much for what you do and what you are about to do this year,” Sellars said to her fellow teachers in the audience. “It’s an honor to represent you as educators for serving in the most wonderful profession that we could possibly serve in, and I am so thankful to the committee, and I’m so thankful for the teachers that serve along with me.”

This spring, Sellars was chosen as the MISD Elementary Teacher of the Year. Every year, the staff at each MISD campus select one outstanding teacher as their Campus Teacher of the Year. Those honorees then participate in a portfolio review and interview process that culminates in April at the annual MISD Teacher of the Year dinner where each campus representative is recognized, and the MISD Elementary Teacher of the Year and Secondary Teacher of the Year are announced.

For 2017, Sellars was chosen as the MISD Elementary Teacher of the Year, and Scott Johnson Middle School Band Director Paul Stephens was chosen as the MISD Secondary Teacher of the Year.

When her name was announced on Thursday as the Region 10 winner, Sellars became part of a growing tradition of Region 10 Teachers of the Year from MISD. Over the past 12 years, the district has had five Region 10 Elementary Teachers of the Year, one Region 10 Secondary Teacher the Year, one Region 10 Secondary Teacher of the Year Finalist and one Texas Teacher of the Year.

“Obviously, McKinney ISD is extremely proud of Whitney,” said MISD Superintendent Dr. Rick McDaniel. “We also recognize that she is representative of many other fine educators. For her to receive this opportunity to represent this entire region is a powerful statement about what we’re doing in McKinney ISD, but it’s an even more powerful statement about the job that she is doing at Press Elementary. We are extremely proud of her and happy for her.”

“It’s an honor to do what I do, anyway, because I serve kids,” Sellars said of the recognition. “And, that’s an amazing feeling, but to be honored for doing what I love to do and what I’m called to do is just…I’m over the moon to be honored for doing something that is a calling on my life, and I’m thrilled to be able to do it in McKinney ISD. It’s an amazing district.”

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