Two Rdale teachers named candidates for Minnesota Teacher of the Year

Two Robbinsdale Area Schools (Rdale) teachers have been named candidates for Minnesota’s 2025 Teacher of the Year award.

Cooper High School math teacher Garrett Bruce and Meadow Lake Elementary art teacher Emma Withers join 140 other teachers statewide as candidates for the honor, which is organized by Education Minnesota, the 84,000-member statewide educators union. This past May, Withers was also named as the 2024 Teacher of the Year by the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers.

Rdale teachers have been up for the Minnesota Teacher of the Year award consistently over the last few years. Last year, Robbinsdale Transition Center teacher Jenny Peterson was a semifinalist, and in 2023, two Rdale teachers were also named as candidates.

This year’s program will name the 61st Minnesota Teacher of the Year, celebrating the tradition of excellence in teaching in Minnesota. Candidates include pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade, Early Childhood Family Education and Adult Basic Education teachers, from public or private schools.

In coming weeks, an independent selection panel will narrow the 142 total candidates down to a much smaller group of semifinalists. In March, the panel will convene again to choose a group of finalists. A banquet to announce the 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year is scheduled for May 4 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre.