Southeast Minnesota Teachers in the Semifinals for Teacher of the Year

We all have at least one teacher who made a positive impact on our lives. Those are the kinds of teachers that shape us into who we are today. They're also the kind of teachers who get nominated for Minnesota's Teacher of the Year!

142 Minnesota teachers were candidates for the 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year award. All of them had been nominated by someone who thinks they do amazing work.

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The semifinalists for the award were recently announced and we're down to 31 teachers.

There's an independent selection panel that chooses the 31 semifinalists. Education Minnesota writes that now, that panel will "review the semifinalists’ portfolios again, along with semifinalist video submissions". That will happen in the middle of March.

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Southeast Minnesota Teachers in the Running for Teacher of the Year

Among the semifinalists are three Southeast Minnesota teachers! It's always exciting to see someone from our area get acknowledged for the good work they're doing.

Those teachers are:

Christoph Dundas, Austin Public Schools, Austin High School

Mr. Dundas has worked at Austin High School for 9 years. He also received the Austin Teacher of the Year award in November.

Tim Larson, Medford Public Schools, Medford High School

Mr. Larson has been teaching since 1983 and has been teaching at Medford High School since 2000. He teaches a variety of Ag Education/Technology courses

Criselda Martinez, Rochester Public Schools, Riverside Elementary

Ms. Martinez teaches 2nd grade Spanish immersion at Riverside Elementary in Rochester. This is her ninth year teaching Spanish immersion in Rochester.

After the semifinalists are reviewed again, the pool will then be narrowed to the 10 finalists. The winner will be announced at the Minnesota Teacher of the Year banquet on May 4th.