By Brenda Sexton-The Courier-Herald

No one could have been more surprised to receive the prestigious Mary Meisenbach Excellence in Education Award than White River High School family and consumer science teacher Jill Sulkosky.

There she was at the awards ceremony in the White River High gymnasium Friday morning, camera in hand, snapping everyone else's moment when John Meisenbach called her name.

Sulkosky said she always looks forward to the assembly and the opportunity to honor a colleague. She never expected to be the one honored.

In fact, she nominated someone else.

“It's an honor to be here with the other eight honorees,” Sulkosky said, gesturing to past winners like Juan Garibay, Dianne Campbell, Terry Veltkamp, Bob Brooks, Jer Argo, Bev Snyder and Todd and Amy Miller.

“I truly love working here at White River,” she said. “I want to work here forever.”

John and Ginny Meisenbach have honored a White River High teacher for their dedication to education for the past eight years. The award is dedicated to the memory of John's mother, who believed education was paramount to success, and the award comes with a tax-free, no-strings-attached $10,000 bonus.

Each year, the Meisenbachs hand out the award to a teacher who shows exceptional commitment to mentoring, teaching and encouraging and developing students, while helping them display a respect and love for learning, values and a sense of self worth.

Meisenbach grew up in Buckley and graduated from White River in 1954. His parents owned and operated the M&M variety store on Main Street from 1946 to the 1970s. After White River, he joined the Navy. He later attended Seattle University and went into the insurance and financial services business, starting his own company in Seattle.

He set up the award to reward hard-working teachers in his home town.

Teachers are nominated by students, staff and community members. One requirement is they have to have taught at the high school for five years. This year there were six nominees. The Meisenbachs select the winner.

“You really do have a great group of teachers at this high school,” John Meisenbach said.

“When you think about a teacher you think of many things,” he said. “Teachers help us grow. They challenge us. They give us goals and help our dreams come true.”

“If teaching were just about facts, most teachers wouldn't want the job,” Meisenbach read to the crowd from fellow family and consumer science teacher Shannon Hasiak's nomination letter for Sulkosky. “Those who focus only on the mind, miss the opportunity to teach the heart. This person is not someone who misses that opportunity.

“She is someone who finds the student at their core and builds around it. By knowing and truly caring about her students, she is able to teach them the content of her subject area, but more importantly she is able to teach them to be a better person.

“She is current in her curriculum, creative in her presentation and thorough in her instruction,” he continued.

“I plan to become a teacher myself, and I want to be like Mrs. Sulkosky,” wrote former student Andrea Gregg in her nomination letter. “Someone who students look up to and respect, someone who loves their job as much as she does, and someone who every day influences everyone they touch.”

“It's emotional when you read what she's done, like every year,” John Meisenbach said after the assembly.

“I don't think that's any different than any of the other teachers here,” Sulkosky said. “I try to get to know the whole student.”

Sulkosky graduated from Auburn High in 1990 and earned an associate of arts from Green River Community College. She then took some time off to explore career options. Two years later, she found herself at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where she received a degree in family and consumer science and elementary education. She earned a master's degree in technology in the classroom from City University and has been at White River High for nine years.

“I always knew it was somewhere in my journey,” she said of education.

Her family, to her surprise, was at the assembly.

“My family's not very good at keeping secrets, especially my husband, he usually gives it up,” she said. Her husband was there - not fishing, as he led some to believe - as were her parents and other family members.

Also as part of the honor, the Meisenbachs invite the winner, past winners and spouses for a dinner during the summer.

The Meisenbachs also provide a number of White River students with scholarships.

“They are instrumental in supporting education here in White River, and in Seattle as well,” Principal Mike Hagadone said.

Brenda Sexton can be reached at bsexton@courierherald.com.