Two area teachers named finalists for Kansas Teacher of the Year

Cynthia Venard, a fifth-grade teacher at Soule Intermediate Center, and Cynthia Couchman, a high school math teacher at Buhler High School, were named Region 1 finalists for the 2009 Kansas Teacher of the Year award.
    The announcements were made Saturday during ceremonies at the Salina Country Club. As finalists, Venard and Couchman each received a $2,000 cash award from Security Benefit, a major partner in the Kansas Teacher of the Year program.
    Venard and Couchman are among six Teacher of the Year semi-finalists from Region 1, which covers the first U.S. congressional district. Paula Ripple, an English teacher at Dodge City High School, was a semi-finalist.
    Statewide, 97 educators were nominated for the Kansas Teacher of the Year distinction. Nominations are made in each of four regions in the state. Regional selection panels then chose semi-finalists from each region.
    Six semi-finalists, three elementary teachers and three secondary teachers, were chosen. From those semi-finalists, the panel in each region then selected one elementary finalist and one secondary finalist. The Kansas Teacher of the Year will be selected from among the regional finalists announced during a ceremony on Nov. 22 in Wichita.
    The individual selected as the Kansas Teacher of the Year is then eligible for national distinction as Teacher of the Year.