The Utah Education Association has named ten educators as recipients of its 2026 Excellence in Education Award, recognizing work that ranges from a data-driven math intervention in a Parowan elementary school to legislative advocacy for school nurses at the Utah Capitol.
This year's honorees include classroom teachers, a school counselor, a school nurse supervisor, an instructional coach now serving as assistant principal, and a special education teacher who helps students transition into adult life. They will be celebrated at a banquet on September 11, 2026.
“These ten educators represent the work our members do for students in classrooms across Utah every day. They truly make a difference in the lives of the students they serve, and we are proud to honor them.”
— Renée Pinkney, UEA President
Cherie Blackburn
4th Grade Teacher · Loa Elementary · Wayne School District
Cherie Blackburn has spent 38 years in the profession, teaching kindergarten and second grade, working as a reading specialist, and serving as a principal before returning to a fourth-grade classroom. Two years ago, a student arrived in her class already behind in reading and writing. Blackburn built a specific plan with three parts: he would read at home every night, she would work with him individually on comprehension, and he would give full effort in class. Nobody got a pass, including her. By year’s end, the Acadience Reading Test confirmed he had reached grade level, and he scored proficient on Utah’s Readiness, Improvement, Success, Empowerment (RISE) assessment in both English language arts and math.
“I just need to care, keep learning, and do my best each day,” Blackburn said.
Kristin Bunk
3rd Grade Teacher · Elk Run Elementary · Granite School District
Kristin Bunk’s third graders started this year far behind in reading. Bunk built individualized intervention plans for struggling readers, then went after their dread of reading directly, logging into her students’ online reading games in disguise and daring them to catch the “mystery player” she’d become. By spring, the students who had avoided reading were racing to catch her at her own game instead. Years later, many of Bunk’s former students still invite her to their high school and college graduations, a bond that has outlasted the classroom where it started.
“Kids do not care how much you know until they know how much you care,” Bunk said.
Katrina Cummings
Transition Program Special Education Teacher · Canyon View · Weber School District
Katrina Cummings walks families through paperwork that shapes what life looks like after high school for young adults with disabilities: applications to the Division of Services for People with Disabilities, Vocational Rehabilitation intake, and Supplemental Security Income forms. Rather than pointing families toward agencies, Cummings brings representatives from all three directly into parent transition nights, then sits with each family to work through the applications line by line. Before recommending an adult day program, she tours it herself, evaluating whether it actually fits a student’s needs so families make an informed choice rather than a default one.
“Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Cummings said.
Marie Evans
School Nurse Supervisor · Weber School District
Marie Evans worked with Primary Children’s and state nursing specialists to standardize care plans for diabetic students and helped launch in-school Telehealth visits, changes the district credits with rising student attendance. Evans then turned her attention to the Utah Capitol. When early meetings with legislators went nowhere, she kept organizing school nurses to show up anyway, eventually persuading Senator Musselman to carry SB 75, legislation that would fund school nurse salaries at educator levels. She testified in two committee hearings, arguing that fair pay is what keeps qualified nurses in schools. The bill has not yet passed; Evans is already preparing for next year’s legislative session.
“Always remember the ‘why,’” Evans said.
Tracie M. Garritson
School Counselor · Vae View Elementary · Davis School District
Tracie Garritson works one-on-one and in small groups with students who have begun to disappear from their own school day, kids who have stopped raising their hands, stopped showing up, stopped trying. She teaches them to name what they are feeling and ask for what they need instead of shutting down. Garritson has counseled students at the elementary, junior high and high school levels, often the same families more than once, a second or third child walking into her office already knowing her name. Every winter, she organizes donations so every student at her school receives a holiday gift.
“Let whatever you do today be enough,” said Garritson, repeating advice she once received from another educator.
Courtney Lee
Kindergarten Teacher · Bonneville Elementary · Salt Lake City School District
Courtney Lee runs her classroom on one rule: praise in public, correct in private. When she points out something a student is doing well, the rest of the class sees exactly what’s expected, and behavior changes almost immediately. Lee applies an equally deliberate approach to neurodiverse and disabled students in her general education classroom, taking real time to learn what each student actually needs and making sure they receive the services they are entitled to, not just a seat at a desk. For years, she has paired her kindergartners with a third-grade class down the hall, giving older students, including some who usually struggle with behavior expectations, a real leadership role.
“Praise in public, correct in private,” Lee said. “That’s my entire classroom management strategy.”
Aimee Miller
1st Grade Teacher · Three Peaks Elementary · Iron County School District
Aimee Miller spent five years bringing her team around one shared, skills-based model for reading and math intervention, replacing an approach that had varied by classroom. She built the model on real classroom expertise: she is certified in the science of reading and endorsed in math, and continues that training every year at coaching conferences. That expertise reached beyond her own classroom, too. A national coaching-cycle award led to a meeting with Utah’s First Lady to discuss what students need to succeed.
“Never let that kid who drives you crazy know they drive you crazy,” Miller said, repeating advice her mother, a retired teacher, once gave her.
Amanda Muffler
10th Grade English Teacher · Uintah High · Uintah School District
Amanda Muffler built an intervention system rigorous enough that teachers in other subjects adopted it for their own students. Her instructional judgment reached beyond Uintah, too, earning her a spot in the state’s competitive Teacher Fellows cohort, a byline in Education Week, and a recurring voice on the Teacher Fellows Podcast. She runs ACT Prep classes and “Crash Course” sessions for students who cannot fit test prep into their schedule. This year, when a colleague needed unexpected medical leave, Muffler took on an unfamiliar curriculum with very little notice. When her first-hour class faced the sudden, tragic loss of two students within weeks of each other, she held the classroom together, making room for grief without losing the structure her students needed.
“Be authentic,” Muffler said.
Emily Tanner
5th Grade DEEP (Gifted & Talented) Teacher · Clinton Elementary · Davis School District
Emily Tanner’s research ahead of this year’s Utah Association of Gifted Children conference became a documentary unit: students researched their own topics, then wrote, filmed and edited short films about them. Past years have looked different, mock trials one year, a full patriotic stage production the year before that. Her class recently brought home three first-place and four second-place awards, seven wins out of eight total entries her school sent to the Utah State National History Day competition. This year, she coached one student individually through a speech competition for America250.
“Becoming a better teacher isn’t about knowing everything,” Tanner said. “It’s about continuing to reflect, refine and grow in the work.”
Macey Yardley
Assistant Principal (formerly Instructional Coach) · Parowan Elementary · Iron County School District
Ask Macey Yardley how to help a struggling class, and she will start with the data, not a hunch. She guided the school’s fifth-grade team through a close read of their own students’ math data, standard by standard, with particular attention to students receiving extra academic support who needed a clear signal about which specific skill to target next. One teacher on that team saw student proficiency on end-of-year math benchmarks jump 48 percent, a result she credits directly to the data-driven collaboration Yardley led. Yardley is launching a new positive behavior program modeled after the Ron Clark Academy for the coming school year.
“Keep your expectations for your students high, but keep your expectations of your own ability to help them reach those expectations even higher,” Yardley said.
Celebrating excellence across Utah
The Excellence in Education Award recognizes educators whose work reflects the highest standards of the profession, nominated by colleagues, administrators, and family members from districts across the state. At the banquet, UEA President Renée Pinkney will personally deliver each recipient’s introduction.
