Teacher of the year announced, Walt and Gary Baumstark Jr., winner, poses with Gary Sr. and Eli Baumstark at the ceremony to honor the title, Feb. 26. “I was very humbled and honored to receive such an honor,” Baumstark said. “To be recognized by my peers and so many teachers that I have long respected and looked up to– that they would see fit to honor me–it is one of the greatest accomplishments of my professional career. Having my family around me was a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting them to come. Apparently they had known about it for about a week but kept it from me. Sharing that recognition was nice. My classes we’re all great. Everyone was super excited. I even had students who are not currently my students coming by my class and congratulating me.”