Rigby High School teacher needs community’s help to advance in ‘America’s Favorite Teacher’ contest

RIGBY — A section coach competing successful nan “America’s Favorite Teacher” title precocious became 1 measurement person to winning $25,000, a travel to Hawaii and appearing successful Reader’s Digest, but she needs nan community’s thief to support moving forward.

Dalynn Cross is an English coach astatine Rigby High School who reached nan quarter-finals successful nan nationwide contest. Cross said nan title started pinch 670 groups — each group consisting of astir 100 group — but nan title is now down to astir 1,200 group total. She said location are “fabulous teachers successful nan area” who are successful nan contest.

Voting for semi-finalists is happening now and ends Thursday, May 16, astatine 7 p.m. PDT. Cross must beryllium successful first-place to enactment successful nan competition. As of Sunday evening she was sitting successful third-place successful her group.

“We’re talking from thousands (of teachers) to a small complete a 1000 to this adjacent information will be, arsenic I figure, a small complete 100 and past nan past round,” Cross, who was asked by a erstwhile student to use for nan contest, explained. “My life revolves astir my students truthful nan truth that anybody thought this was thing I should put my sanction to was a awesome grant for me.”

RELATED | Local coach successful moving for ‘America’s Favorite Teacher.’ Here’s really you tin ballot for her.

Cross primitively retired successful 2023 aft 35 years of school successful Texas, astir of nan clip astatine nan high-school level. She moved to Idaho past summertime to bask nan “good life” and unrecorded adjacent friends but wrong 2 weeks, she said she was “bored retired of my skull.”

She applied and was hired to beryllium a driver’s acquisition in-car coach astatine Sugar-Salem High School but that wasn’t capable for Cross. Although she is still a driver’s eduction instructor, she knew she needed to beryllium backmost school successful a classroom. Cross was offered a occupation astatine Rigby High School past August.

“I walk 25 minutes each greeting successful nan cold, windy parking batch doing bus-duty earlier schoolhouse and I get to spot astir of nan students locomotion by. I spot really astonishing autobus drivers promote them, and I person a infinitesimal to promote them arsenic they locomotion by,” she mentioned. “Then I spell wrong to thatch my 150 sophomores, and it’s a blast. I person nan champion students successful nan schoolhouse truthful I’m really blessed from nan infinitesimal I get to schoolhouse until I leave.”

Dalynn Cross extracurricular during a snowstorm. | Courtesy Dalynn Cross

Cross, a crab subsister and motorcycle rider, is not only a coach successful nan schoolroom and driver’s acquisition in-car instructor, but she’s licensed to beryllium a schoolhouse autobus driver and is simply a erstwhile tennis coach.

“I support those things because they are supporting roles for students,” she stated. “It’s nan small things that spell on pinch being a teacher.”

Cross said passim her school profession she has learned nan value of letting her students cognize she believes successful them. She feels this title is simply a “recognition” for her that her students besides judge successful her, and she hopes nan organization will too.

“Whether Reader’s Digest thinks (I’m America’s Favorite Teacher), whether Teach for America thinks that, whether eastbound Idaho thinks that, my students judge that and that’s powerful,” Cross said.

If Cross wins, she wants to usage nan $25,000 to create scholarships for some her erstwhile and existent schoolhouse districts to grant hard-working students, bargain amended proceeding immunodeficiency (the logic why she said her students want her to win) and thief a bum comparative successful Texas.

To ballot for Cross, click here. Supporters get 1 free ballot each 24 hours and for those who’d for illustration to formed other votes, there’s nan action to make monetary donations.

Dalynn Cross helping a student astatine Rigby High School. | Courtesy Dalynn Cross