DePauw's Battey National Educator of the Year is Ohio's Bruce Myers

April 10, 2010

April 10, 2010, Greencastle, Ind. — Bruce R. Myers, a teacher at Willoughby South High School in Ohio, is the 2010 recipient of the Battey National Educator of the Year Award. Administered by DePauw University's Honor Scholar Program, the Battey Award recognizes a teacher who inspired a current DePauw Honor Scholar while that student was attending a high school, middle school or elementary school. Myers (seen at left) was nominated by Andrea Stathopoulos, a current DePauw senior.

The Battey National Educator Award provides a $7,500 honorarium for Myers and a $1,500 grant for Willoughby South to be applied, with suggestions from the winner, to programs at the school. The award will be presented to the teacher on Friday, April 16.

A gift by Charles and Joan (Westmen) Battey created the endowment which funds the award, which was first presented in 2008. Mrs. Battey is a 1954 graduate of DePauw.

According to Stathopoulos (who is pictured at right), "The reason I nominated Mr. Myers is simple: he encourages his students to enjoy learning and I think that is something very worthy of recognition."

Bruce Myers has been on the faculty of Willoughby South, where he teaches high school math and coaches academic decathlon, since 2001. He graduated from Marquette University in 1993 with a degree in communication and a minor in psychology and criminology. Three years later he earned a law degree from Ohio State University.

"After a brief stint in Seattle to be writer, I decided to make a fairly arbitrary choice to become a math teacher (I had not taken a math class since 1989!)," says Myers. "Well, sometimes arbitrary choices work out really well, and I would fall under the category of Americans who love their job. I am honored to receive the Battey Award and would like to thank the donors, DePauw, and especially my former student and decathlete, Andrea Stathopoulos."

Gregory Lewis, a social studies teacher at Indiana's Columbus East High School, won the inaugural Battey Award.  Last year's honoree was Andrew Goodwin, a Spanish teacher at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis.

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