Earlier this week, the Aberdeen School District Board of Directors named Megan Cox Orosz, an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher at Aberdeen High School, Teacher of the Year and Barb Tingwall, a paraeducator at Aberdeen High School, Classified Employee of the Year.

Orosz has been a teacher in the Aberdeen School District for 22 years. She started at Miller Junior High School in 2003 as a Learning Skills for Success teacher, and joined the high school staff in 2021 as an ELL coach.

Orosz was praised as an educator who prioritizes students in ways that result in positive academic outcomes and in lasting relationships.

“Megan is the kind of teacher where students return year after year to celebrate and appreciate everything that she has done for them,” Co-Superintendent Traci Sandstrom said. “And I know from personal experience that she is terrific to work with and has a great sense of humor.”

Tingwall, the district’s classified employee of the year, has worked in the district as a paraeducator for 14 years. She started in 2011 at Stevens Elementary School and joined the Aberdeen High School staff in 2020. She also coached soccer at Miller Junior High School for four years.

During the ceremony, Co-Superintendent Lynn Green shared an excerpt from one of the nominating letters.

Tingwall “consistently goes above and beyond to support the students she works with, making them feel valued and inspiring them to believe in their potential for success,” the letter read, in part. “… Barb has a unique ability to make the teachers she collaborates with feel supported, helping them be the best versions of themselves in the classroom.”

Green added that she knows Barb to be “multi-talented and just a bright light every day with her colleagues, spreading joy and making others smile.”

Orosz and Tingwall will be nominated for regional recognition later this year.