Terrebonne teacher names Middle School Teacher of the Year

Terrebonne Parish teacher Summer Skarke has been named the state’s Middle School Teacher of the Year by the Louisiana Department of Education.

The announcement was made at a celebration in Baton Rouge last month, where Skarke was honored along with other grade level teachers of the year and principals of the year. Every year, the state Department of Education, in partnership with Dream Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Principals, recognizes and honors the state’s most exceptional teachers and school leaders, according to a release from the department.

Skarke teaches 8th grade English and reading at Lacache Middle School. She said the lessons she learned from her mother and love are what drive her.

“I chose to become a teacher,” she said, “because I really felt that becoming a teacher was a calling and I feel that I said ‘yes’ to a calling, and I think that comes with a purpose. So I don’t take teaching as a job.”

At the event, Skarke and other finalists received a commemorative medal, an engraved paperweight, a cash award and other gifts.