Teachers throughout the state honored in Augusta

It's National Teacher Appreciation Week, making it a perfect time to honor teachers from all over Maine.

The 2019 County Teachers of the Year were named in Augusta Thursday afternoon.

Teachers from all over the state were there to be recognized.

Each was nominated by someone from their community.

We spoke to Tracy Deschaine, a teacher at Orono Middle School, about winning the title in Penobscot County.

"Pretty amazing. I guess it's an opportunity to inspire, a platform that I never thought I'd have. And without the cohort of teachers that I teach with and the colleagues that I have in RSU 26, I could never have done what we do," she said.

"It's volunteer groups of teachers, community members and businesses and the like to get together and sift through over 300 nominations from around the state to say let's pick a teacher from each county to honor and really through they're representing the teachers in their school and in their county," said Ed Cervone, Executive Director of Educate Maine.

2019 County Teachers of the Year:

• Androscoggin County: Shawn Rice, Edward Little High School, Auburn

• Aroostook County: Kim Barnes, Caribou Middle School

• Cumberland County: Heather Whitaker, Gorham Middle School

• Franklin County: Robert Taylor, Spruce Mountain Middle/High School, Jay

• Hancock County: Nell Herrmann, Blue Hill Consolidated School

• Kennebec County: Emily Bowen, Hall-Dale Middle/High School, Farmingdale

• Knox County: Thomas Gray, Camden Hills Regional High School

• Oxford County: Linda Andrews, Buckfield Junior/Senior High School, Hartford -Sumner Elementary

• Penobscot County: Tracy Deschaine, Orono Middle School

• Piscataquis County: Bobbi Tardif, SeDoMoCha School, Dover-Foxcroft

• Sagadahoc County: Charles Bingham, Morse High School, Bath

• Somerset County: Katherine Bertini, Madison Junior High School

• Waldo County: Ashley Reynolds, Captain Albert Stevens School, Belfast

• Washington County: Jeanna Carver, Jonesport Elementary School

• York County: Ethel Atkinson, Bonny Eagle Middle School, Buxton

*Lincoln County did not have a nominee who both met the criteria and completed the application process.