Baltimore County Educator In The Running For National Teacher Of The Year Award
DUNDALK, Md. (WJZ) -- Making the grade. A Maryland high school teacher has been named one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year--and it's not his only honor.
Meghan McCorkell went one-on-one with the state's top teacher.
We caught up with Teacher of the Year finalist Sean McComb as he returned to Baltimore after being invited to the White House.
"Complete and utter shock. I was not expecting this at all," he said.
The Baltimore County English teacher was invited to the White House for a discussion session with First Lady Michelle Obama.
"Honestly, I was concerned that this might have been a hoax up until they let us in the gate today," he said.
But the dream came true when he sat in front of Michelle Obama Wednesday.
"You're not just building a better future for them and for their families," she told the group. "You're actually building a better future for our country."
McComb is part of a group of educators invited to the White House to discuss the president's mission to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
"Talking about how we can get more students into higher education and help them be successful when they're there," McComb said.
It's McComb's work trying to get more students into college that earned him Maryland's Teacher of the Year award in October.
"A lot of teenagers face all kinds of issues--regardless of socioeconomics--and they need that positive role model who expects them to do great work in whatever career field they choose," he said.
Now he could be a role model on a national level.
The winner of National Teacher of the Year will be announced in April in the White House Rose Garden.
In the past decade, two other Maryland teachers have been named National Teacher of the Year.
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