“Holy smokes!” That was David McKay’s first reaction when he learned he was named Washington State Teacher of the Year in October. McKay, who has taught for 17 years—16 of them at Aberdeen High School —earned degrees in English (B.A., ‘84) and education from the UW.

David McKay

In presenting the award, Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson commended McKay’s efforts to “build bridges between classroom learning and its application in the real world.”

One example is the senior project McKay assigns each year, which requires students to identify a problem or community need and develop a plan to address it. “The students get to whine—and then fix it,” says McKay. Projects have ranged from high school bathroom improvements to a redesign of the school’s athletic contracts.

As part of the senior project, the students write a formal paper and prepare a presentation, which they present to the president of the School Board and other “heavy hitters” in the community. “To date, there have been 40 to 50 projects,” says McKay, “and about 25 have directly or indirectly changed how things are done in the school or the city.”

McKay also has launched several major book projects—the current one, Grays Harbor County Book of Wisdom, includes entries from local citizens—with high school juniors serving as the editors.

With all that he has accomplished, McKay—who received the Aberdeen Teacher of the Year Award last May—was still surprised by the statewide teaching honor. “The eight other finalists were phenomenal,” he says. “I’m still kind of shocked about the whole deal.”

[Winter/Sping 2002 - Table of Contents]