AUGUSTA — Gretchen Livingston, a middle and high school Spanish teacher at Cony Middle and High School, was named the 2027 Maine Teacher of the Year at a surprise event with students and staff at Cony Middle and High School Tuesday morning.
The Maine Department of Education and Educate Maine presented the award to Livingston, who was chosen from a pool of hundreds of nominations.
Livingston started teaching Spanish at Cony High School in 2003 and started teaching to eighth graders as well when Cony Middle School joined the high school in 2009.
Livingston studied Spanish and Latin American studies at Tufts University before serving two years with the Peace Corps in Honduras. Although she originally thought she might become a translator, she later fell in love with teaching.
““I realized that it was what I was meant to do,” she said in a September interview when she was announced as a finalist for the award.
She’s also the girls field hockey and lacrosse coach, the Seal of Biliteracy coordinator, World Language Department chair and advisor for National Honor Society.
Every couple of years, Livingston brings a group of students on a service trip to Central America.
“The students taking the risk to learn Spanish, French, Japanese, to better understand people in our world and the focus on listening and elevating voices is what’s inspiring to me,” she said. “It’s so motivating to see those voices of the students in whatever language they speak, it’s allowed me to feel so passionate and engaged and motivated to keep up that work.”
This story will be updated.