‘You Just Never Really Stop Being A Teacher’: Oklahoma Educator Looks Back At Journey As National Teacher Of The Year

A teacher from Oklahoma is finally coming home after an entire year of traveling the country as National Teacher of the Year.

Former Union High School math teacher Rebecka Peterson looks back at what got her there while looking ahead to her new role at Union Public Schools. 

Peterson says she's done over 150 speaking engagements and visited dozens of schools in the last year, but she's glad to be back where she started, even if her role is a little different.

Handwritten letters from former students bring back fond memories for Rebecka Peterson.

"If I could say thank you until the day I die, I would," said one letter from a student. 

It's been over two years since she called this classroom home.

"A lot of really good memories here," said Peterson.

It's where she taught hundreds, maybe thousands of students.

"This is the room where we grew together,” she said.

While she loved her time here, she left Union High School for a new job of sorts, becoming an education representative as State and then National Teacher of the Year. 

"It does feel like I've been out of the classroom for a long time, and in some ways, it feels like I never left," said Peterson.

Peterson says she carried the stories of her teaching career across the country, from Washington D.C. to Columbine High School. 

"Stepping into that building, I just had this overwhelming sense of what can I possibly share with these educators," said Peterson.

She says the best part was learning from those schools; the hardest was being away from family. She thanks her husband for stepping up as a stay-at-home dad and supporting her dreams.

"From the outside, the story probably looks like a story about a teacher, but the truth is, it has and always will be a love story," said Peterson. 

Her story now brings her back to Union Schools, where she'll be the Teacher Leadership Specialist, giving educators tools to succeed.

"I'm hoping to take some of what I've learned in the last two years and advocate and work for teachers in the way they advocate and work for their students," said Peterson.

And while she will no longer be in the classroom, she'll never forget how she got here.

"...once again, thank you," reads the final words of a letter from a student.

Part of her new job is building a course for students at Union High School who are curious about becoming a teacher, she hopes to have that up and running in about a year.