 As President and CEO of Horace Mann, a company founded by educators for educators, I'm proud to honor the five recipients of the Horace Mann Awards for Teaching Excellence. With three sisters, three nieces, and now potentially my daughter being teachers, I know some of the challenges they face in the classroom, and I hear about the rewards that make it all worth it. Teaching is more than a job. It's a higher calling and a critical role in our society. Teachers mold our future, and for these five finalists and many other teachers, the job isn't confined to the classroom. Teachers pick their students up when they're down, give gentle guidance in the right direction, help them find their strength and overcome their weaknesses. They build teaching teams and inspire some of their own students to hear the call to the profession. And it is a noble profession that is frequently underappreciated. At Horace Mann, our mission is protecting the short-term risks and securing the long-term financial future of educators. And we make recognizing teachers a part of what we do. For more than a decade, Horace Mann has sponsored the NEA Foundation Awards for Teaching Excellence, because we know how important and deserving it is to shine a light on outstanding teachers who make a difference in their students' lives and who continue to elevate the role. So please join me in congratulating and honoring five individuals who have been singled out by their peers for going above and beyond and becoming this year's Horace Mann Award recipients. Hey, Daly, what's up? Nothing, I'm just working on these test scores. Yeah, I know. We have to give these kids 12 tests a week. That's a little excessive. Yeah, I got to get a little trolley from give a mouse a cookie to a mice of men. Remember the good old days in Mrs. McDonald's classroom? Miss McDonald had that class. T-I-E-I-L. She always made sure we were well prepared. Remember all the great things we did with the children? It's amazing how well she focused on everyone's needs. How did she always have time for all that? And it seemed like she never stopped learning. I've never seen anyone who works as hard as Mrs. McDonald. She is engaged and involved every day here outside of our building, constantly taking advantage of opportunities for professional development, things that she can learn and then come back and better serve her students. I think my greatest role in the association has been outside this district, although I do work inside this district too, but I'm a real advocate for teachers. Had you gotten the chance to know Mrs. McDonald and learn about some of the things she has done as a teacher to help me be other teachers in the building? Definitely. I was a first year career tech teacher last year and being next door to her was a blessing for me because she was always checking in on me. She was a great mentor for me. She helped me, she allowed me to come in and observe her lab and classroom setting which really helped set me up for success last year and really I want to improve and use some of her ideas and dynamics in the classroom. My oldest son, Luke, he started reading very early. He had just turned four, so before he even started preschool he was already doing some beginning reading. But Mrs. McDonald was just really great and she just encouraged his growth as a young reader and really diversified his education. Deborah has not stopped learning. From the time she got her bachelor's degree, she went on to get her master's degree. She's now working on her doctorate. She is learning from her colleagues through collaboration. She is, to me, the prime example of an educator who will be learning for the rest of her life.