They go out of their way to make students feel special. They recognize and encourage greatness in children. They give of their free time to support teachers. They find resources for schools, forge creative paths around big problems, and have worked shoulder-to-shoulder to build Canyons into the school district it is today.

For their countless contributions, these inspiring individuals were named Canyons School District’s 2016 Apex Award winners, the highest honor given by the Board of Education and CSD administration.

Celebrated at a by-invitation-only evening event were: Gretchen Murray, who was named a runner-up in the state Teacher of the Year contest and selected as Canyons Teacher of the Year; Corner Canyon High’s first principal Mary Bailey, who was selected as School Administrator of the Year; CSD’s District Administrator of the Year Mike Sirois, who helped reconfigure CSD’s middle schools and bring teachers out of isolation to work as teams; Judy Ward, the beloved and nurturing nutrition clerk at Lone Peak Elementary, who was selected as Education Support Professional of the Year; Katie Blunt, a driving force behind the success of Canyons Education Technology wizards, who was chosen to receive the Student Support Services Professional of the Year award; Ron Konnick, Sunrise Elementary’s ‘resident grandpa’, who won the Volunteer of the Year award; Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, who champions education for homeless children, and was selected as Canyons’ Elected Official of the Year; Valley Behavioral Health, which provides aid and care to students in crisis and was chosen to receive the Community Partner of the Year award; and Jennifer Toomer-Cook and Jeffrey Haney, the first communications team of Canyons District, who were chosen to receive the Legacy Award.

To see video profiles of the award-winners, click on the links above. Congratulations to all of the honorees, and thank you for all you do to provide a world-class education for CSD’s students.