Mrs. Mary Sabo Nominated For 5th Annual Award
The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, in partnership with Skyward Inc., are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2018 Skyward Central Wisconsin Teacher of the Year award. Mrs. Mary Sabo, a fifth grade teacher at Wisconsin Rapids Washington Elementary School, was recently presented with a certificate commemorating her nomination.
Mrs. Sabo has been teaching full-time for 33 years. She has been a teacher in the district since 1989, and at Washington Elementary since 1990. In addition to her daily teaching duties, other responsibilities she has in the building include Safety Patrol and Building Technology Coach. Many students described Mary as an outstanding teacher who is always smiling and makes it enjoyable to spend a day in her classroom.
Kelly Schaeffer, Principal at Washington Elementary added, “Mary gets the very best from her students. She has high expectations, while making the day fun. She is not only a great teacher, but also a leader among her peers. Students, parents, and staff all appreciate and admire the work Mary does here at Washington.”
The Rafters and Skyward Inc. will hold the 5th annual Educator’s Appreciation Night at Witter Field on Wednesday, June 20th this summer. As part of the evening, the Rafters and Skyward will present Mrs. Sabo with a bobblehead doll created in her likeness to commemorate the Teacher of the Year honor. The team will also enshrine one bobblehead of Mrs. Sabo into the newly-minted Skyward Educator’s Wall of Fame at the ballpark that night and recognize her on the field prior to the game by throwing out a first pitch. In addition, Mary and her family will receive tickets to attend the game, courtesy of Skyward. The first fans through the gates that night will receive a Skyward Educator Rosco P. Rafter bobblehead doll.
To facilitate the selection of the teacher, the Rafters held an essay contest for students in grades K-12 in the area during the months of November and December. All students were encouraged to nominate a teacher who they felt has made a positive impact on their life and write a 300 word essay on the reason as to why this teacher deserved to be recognized as the Skyward Central Wisconsin Teacher of the Year.
The Rafters received over 250 submissions from students in the area districts. Speaking even more to the outstanding quality of educators in the area, 61 teachers received at least one submission nominating them. To help narrow down the submissions, an internal rating system was used that included the following areas: Number of nominations submitted on behalf of each teacher, years of service by the teacher to the district, essay substance regarding the teacher, principal recommendation, and the most unique characteristics described by students about the teacher.
Any student who wrote an essay nominating the winning teacher will receive four tickets to Educator’s Appreciation Night, Rafters mock jersey, and an autographed baseball from the 2018 Rafters team.
Single game tickets for the 2018 season go on sale at 9am on Friday, April 20th. The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters will begin their season on the road against the Madison Mallards on Tuesday, May 29th. The Home Opener is slated for Friday, June 1st against the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The entire 2018 Rafters schedule is available at www.raftersbaseball.com.
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The Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 185 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.
