The Findlay Rotary Club presented its 2022 Golden Apple Awards to three area teachers for their teaching excellence.

Annually, The Rotary chooses three teachers from the elementary level, three from the middle school level and three from the high school level to compete for the award.

The winners of the Golden Apple Award for 2022 are, at the elementary level, Sara Cleary, Second Grade teacher at Jefferson Primary, at the middle school level, Kristina Rodman, Intervention Specialist at Van Buren Middle School, and at the high school level, Becky Bucher, Business, Family & Consumer Sciences at Cory Rawson High School.

We spoke with Becky after the presentation and she said it felt really great that one of her students nominated her with a four-page-long letter of recommendation.

“I read that letter and knew that I was a winner then, because somebody in my classroom felt that strongly about what I do and how I make a difference in their life.”

The finalist at each level receives the Golden Apple Award along with a $2,500 cash prize.

Second and third place semi-finalists each receive a $250 cash prize.

Finalists also accept an invitation to join the Golden Apple Academy, a group consisting of all past Golden Apple Award finalists.

(pictured below are Sara Cleary, Kristina Rodman and Becky Bucher)