Kimberly teacher receives national award

KIMBERLY - A Kimberly High School teacher has received a national honor.

Technology education teacher Kevin Janota was awarded a 2011 Milken Educator Award in a surprise ceremony Tuesday. The award is given to one teacher in each of 40 states and carries a $25,000 prize.

"Every day, I get up excited to come to work," Janota said. "Sombody once told me if you love your job, you never have to work a day of you life, and I really feel like that."

"The students I have every day shape who I am, and I focus a lot of time trying to become a better person for them."

Recipients are selected without their knowledge by committees set up by their state departments of education. The Milken Family Foundation, which administers the awards, says the criteria include educational talent, accomplishments beyond the classroom and contributions that are unheralded but worthy of being highlighted.

• Click here to learn more about the Milken Educator Awards

The foundation says Janota was selected because he developed a “highly rigorous, college-level, technology education and engineering program centered on hands-on, project-based curriculum that uses cutting-edge technology.” Janota’s students also design and build machines and compete with them against other students around the country.