For the second time in three years, Oregon’s Teacher of the Year hails from Clackamas County.

Mandy Vance, a wellness instructor at Boring Middle School on special assignment this year as a science teacher at Cedar Ridge Middle School in Sandy, was named 2023-24 Oregon Teacher of the Year in a surprise celebration Oct. 5. Oregon Department of Education Director Charlene Williams made the announcement in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Cedar Ridge that included several members of Mandy’s family, and many of her students and colleagues.

Mandy has spent her career teaching middle school in the Oregon Trail School District. She is respected and beloved by students and colleagues for her skills as a teacher, mentor and leader, and her unflagging commitment to building true community in her classroom, school and district. As one student wrote in supporting her Teacher of the Year application, “she brings light into every situation.”

Thanks to a partnership with the Oregon Lottery, Mandy will receive $10,000 and a fund to cover her Oregon Teacher of the Year travel expenses. She will serve as a spokesperson and representative for all Oregon teachers during the coming year.

Mandy was named one of 17 Regional Teachers of the Year and a finalist for Oregon Teacher of the Year in an all-school assembly at Boring Middle School on Sept. 21. She was selected for the regional honor from among a record 200-plus nominees in Clackamas County.

“We are thrilled for Mandy and this well-deserved recognition as a teacher who has made an extraordinary commitment to her students, colleagues and community, and is emblematic of the exceptional teaching we see everywhere in Clackamas County schools,” said Clackamas ESD Superintendent Larry Didway, who attended the Oregon Teacher of the Year announcement. “I’m heartened to know that a state application review panel saw in Mandy what our own review panel did: an educator who cares deeply about students’ success inside and outside the classroom, and makes sure every student in her care is seen, valued and empowered. Simply put, she fills every room she enters with joy and hope.”

As 2023-24 Oregon Teacher of the Year, Mandy now becomes eligible for consideration as National Teacher of the Year.

Clackamas County’s most recent Oregon Teacher of the Year was Ethelyn Tumalad of North Clackamas High School, who earned the honor in fall 2021.

See more photos from the surprise announcement on our Facebook page.