On June 11th, Dolly’s 2010 Chasing Rainbows Award went to Keil Hileman, a Social Studies and History Museum Connections teacher at Monticello Trails Middle School in Shawnee , KS .  Keil was 2004 KS TOY and also a finalist for the National Teacher of the Year.  Dollywood Foundation Executive Director and President, David Dotson joined Dolly on stage to introduce Hileman.  He said at one point Hileman was told he would never walk or see again or ever have children.  Dolly expressed surprise as Hileman walked on stage as he obviously proved his critics wrong.  Hileman towered over Parton and she commented on his beautiful wife and lovely three daughters.  She told the audience, “We know how important it is for our kids to be inspired.  We all have memories of teachers both good and bad, but hopefully good!”

After receiving the award, Hileman told the crowd he was passionate about teaching and wouldn’t want to do anything else.  Dotson said, “Hileman inspires his students to grow as learners but also clearly inspires his students to grow as people.”  Keil and his family were treated to a week-end in Pigeon Forge, TN in the Great Smoky Mountains, Dollywood, and Splash County .  The Hileman’s and other NSTOY guests were invited to the special award’s ceremony, a private taping of Dolly celebrating Dollywood’s 25th anniversary for The Today Show, and a special lunch at the Backstage Resturant at Dollywood.

Dolly presents this special award annually to a teacher who has overcome obstacles in his/her life and is making a difference in the lives of children.  You may receive an application on the NSTOY web site or from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Spotlight on Francis Mustapha --1994 Indiana Teacher of the Year

Francis Mustapha has an ambitious dream, a dream of reaching far into the future to give back some of what he has received in the past.  Francis has long envisioned repaying the investment of education that was given to him by enabling others to reap similar benefits.  He is now in the process of implementing his lifelong dream of building a school in the village of Madina in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

 Madina is a little farming village started by Francis’ father.  Born in that village as a twin, Francis was not expected to live.  Six older siblings had all died before reaching age five, and his twin also died at birth.  Francis owes his life to the care of Auntie Abi Margai, the first educated trained nurse from their region, who was challenged by his father to take charge of the puny baby and make sure he lived.  Auntie Abi not only took charge of his physical survival; she also influenced him throughout his life.  She taught him to cook, encouraged him to choose Christian mission schools and inspired him to put a high value on education, especially the education of women.  She called him the proof of her own education.

 Forty-five years later, after teaching in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the United States, Francis was honored for his excellence by being selected as 1994 Indiana Teacher of the Year and Finalist for National Teacher of the Year.  He also was awarded $25,000 as a Milken Educator Award and attempted to fulfill his dream of building a school in his home village.  He traveled to Sierra Leone in December 1994 and presented the leaders of Madina with a major portion of his award money for the purpose of building a small elementary school building.

 While Francis and his son Tim were still in Sierra Leone, civil war broke out and displaced all the people living in Madina and the surrounding area. After a very frightening time of being separated from each other for five days, Francis and his son found each other in Freetown and escaped the chaos of the war by flying back to Indiana. (Please click READ MORE for the whole story.)

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Because of her passion for her subject, her innovative focus on her learners and the equal passion she devotes to mentoring others new to the profession, Wessling was named 2010 National Teacher of the Year by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony on April 29, 2010.

Wessling is a tenth through twelfth grade English teacher at Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa. As the 60th National Teacher of the Year, she will devote herself fulltime for a year as a national and international spokesperson for education beginning June 1, 2010.

To Wessling, learner-centered education means, as she says, “creating a web of rigorous content, real-world experience, and inquiry-based experiences around the learner.” With one former student, Meredith (now a teacher herself), it meant fostering self-confidence in Meredith’s considerable intelligence by differentiating her instruction, but also holding off on the pressure for academic success in favor of letting Meredith discover her own ambition. As a senior, Meredith was honored for her scholastic achievement and Wessling was there proudly cheering her on. For another, Tyler, who had already failed a year of English, it meant for Wessling spending her lunch hours reading the journals she had started with each student in Tyler’s class. Through his journal, she discovered Tyler liked to draw and urged him to bring in his artwork, because she knew just engaging him was going to be the greatest victory. She succeeded; he passed. He also found an ally in her for the next two years as he worked to graduate. “Being a learner-centered teacher means respecting who students are right now,” Wessling says.

Source Info: Council of Chief State School Officers - The Whitehouse Blog

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