It’s been said that teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions. To be sure, the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, artists and accountants is being created by the women and men who helm the classrooms of today. Few times before in the history of public education have there been more challenges to inspire higher levels of learning in schools. It’s taken heroic measures to lead students through unexpected surges of COVID-19, turn to technology to reach students who could not come to school because of illness, and re-teach social skills to those traumatized by the effects of the pandemic. While the previous two school years have been held out as the tough “COVID-19 years,” the academic aftershocks of COVID-19 are actually being felt in our schools right now. From the workforce shortage to economic pressures to the “COVID slide” of scholastic progress, it seems like a never-ending uphill battle. In such a difficult time, when so many have gone above and beyond to meet the academic and emotional needs of students, it’s been a challenge for CSD school communities to choose just one teacher as a nominee in Canyons District’s 2022 Teacher of the Year selection process. A record 1,800 nominations were submitted this year during the public-nomination process, and from those nominations winners were selected. Every school- or program-based Teacher of the Year received a gift bag full of donated prizes worth more than $500. From the field of the amazing educators featured here, CSD will select one teacher who will be the overall Teacher of the Year. The first-place pick will receive a $1,000 cash prize. The winner, to be announced at the April 19 Board of Education meeting to be held at 7 p.m. in Hillcrest High’s new auditorium, also will represent Canyons in the state Teacher of the Year contest. CSD’s Teacher of the Year program is proudly co-sponsored by the Canyons Education Foundation.