A Lapeer County educator who is known for creating a welcoming environment for students has been honored with an Excellence In Education award from the Michigan Lottery.

The award winner, Heather LaMarra, is an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Weston Elementary. The school is part of Imlay City Schools.

The Michigan Lottery established the Excellence In Education awards in 2014 to recognize outstanding public-school educators across the state during the school year.

Winners of the weekly award receive a $2,000 cash prize. At the end of the school year, one of the weekly award winners will be selected to receive the Lottery’s Educator of the Year award and will receive a $10,000 cash prize.

Each winner also is featured in a news segment on the Lottery’s media partner stations: WXYZ-TV in Detroit, FOX 17 in Grand Rapids, FOX 47 in Lansing, WNEM-TV in Saginaw, and WWTV-TV in Traverse City. The news segment featuring LaMarra will air this evening.

“Heather LaMarra’s journey from social work to ESL teaching speaks volumes about her dedication to empowering children,” said Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli. “Her focus on multilingual learners, especially at such a young age, helps create a welcoming and safe learning environment. Her ion for witnessing those ‘lightbulb moments’ and her commitment to lifelong learning sets her apart.”

LaMarra said the excitement and challenge of being an ESL teacher inspired her to pursue a career in education.

“My previous work as a social worker included working with children and teens in residential treatment facilities, foster care and in Wayne County as a delinquency worker. When I moved to Las Vegas they were in need of teachers who wanted to work with children and had a high population of students whose second language was English. I thought this would be an exciting and rewarding career change, so I decided to make a change and haven’t looked back. When you work with multilingual learners you get more of a chance to see the ‘lightbulb moments.’ You also develop a unique relationship with students since you usually teach them more than one year.”

LaMarra was nominated for the award by a family member.

“Heather LaMarra is a great ESL teacher. She works with kindergarteners through second graders. She teaches English to 90 children. Some of these students are monolingual. She makes them feel comfortable as many of them are new to the United States and new to American schools. Many students come back and thank her for her efforts. Teaching a language to children that young seems intimidating to me, but Heather loves the challenge. She constantly does professional development to get better at her craft. Despite being a teacher for 22 years, she is devoted to being a lifelong learner.”

LaMarra earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and master’s degrees from Nova Southeastern University and the University of Phoenix. She has been an educator for 22 years, the last 10 in her current position.

Excellence in Education award nominees are evaluated on the following criteria:

• Excellence – Their work consistently helps students and/or their schools or school districts advance to higher levels of academic achievement.
• Dedication – They consistently go above and beyond expectations to help students succeed.
• Inspiration – Their work inspires others around them to exceed expectations either academically or professionally.
• Leadership – They demonstrate clear leadership skills in their positions with their school or school districts.
• Effectiveness – The nominee’s work has clear and positive results on the educational advancement of students within the school or school district.