Uppercase: Showcasing our Nation’s Best Teachers

Kristen Poindexter has been a Kindergarten teacher in MSD Washington Township for 23 years and is currently teaching at Allisonville Elementary School.Kristen is the recipient of several national awards, including being named the 2014 National Shell Science Teacher Award Recipient, a 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching Award Recipient, and a 2018 Robert E. Yager Excellence in Science Teaching Award Recipient, and in 2023 was named a Ball State University Outstanding Alumni Award recipient. She is also the current Communications Director of the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, Inc. (HASTI) after serving as President, Vice-President, and Conference Chair.  In addition, Kristen serves on the Ed Council at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Zoo. Kristen is currently pursuing her Ed.D in Curriculum and Instruction; Science Education at Indiana University with a minor in Early Childhood Leadership and Organization. In her spare time, Kristen enjoys reading, crafting, and spending time with her family. 

Deanne Moyle-Hicks, the 2022 Nevada Teacher of the Year is a 30-year veteran with a National Board Certification. Deanne graduated from Eureka High, a rural school in central Nevada and earned a teaching degree from the University Nevada Las Vegas. She holds a master’s degree from Lesley University. Deanne has taught grades K-6 and was a literacy coach for 5 years, all in Title I schools in Elko and Washoe County Nevada. The last 5 years of her teaching career were spent on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation looping with her students. She continues to support National Board Candidates, and early career educators across the country.

Marta García is an elementary school ELD teacher to multilingual sudents in Salem, Massachusetts. She came with the program "Visiting Teachers from Spain" and she has worked in Salem for 17 years as a teacher and advocate for the immigrant and multilingual community, and before that in California and Spain. She was awarded as the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year in 2022, a platform she has been using to "amplify students' voices and the voices of the immigrant/bilingual families, who care deeply about the education of their children." This experience has provided new opportunities to continue her advocacy work in different institutions as she continues to serve multilingual students in the elementary grades.

For 23 years, Sergio de Alba, a fourth-grade teacher at R. M. Miano Elementary in Los Banos, CA, has focused on establishing a system geared toward developing achievement for our most marginalized students. He is known for his ability to create innovative lessons that allow for success.Sergio was selected as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow in Washington, D.C., a Fulbright Fellow in Colombia, a KKC Fellow in Japan, a Fund for Teachers Fellowship in Australia, and a Grosvenor Teacher Research Fellowship in Antarctica. Sergio was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 2022. 

Dr. Gina Pepin holds an Ed.D. in Teacher Leadership and a MS in Reading & Literacy K-6. She is the 2023-2024 and 2018-2019 Region 1 Teacher of the Year for Michigan. Dr. Pepin teaches in a rural elementary school as a reading intervention teacher. She is involved in leadership, scholarship, and speaking opportunities across the country: family literacy workshops (Great Start Family Collaborative), K-12 mentoring & university supervision (teacher candidates), online assistant professor of graduate literacy courses, a commissioner & board member for the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation, and an editor for the Michigan Reading Journal. She is passionate about early literacy and teacher leadership and co authored a professional learning book with children's book author Eric Litwin entitled The Power of Joyful Reading: Help Your Young Readers Soar to Success (Scholastic, 2020).

Caryn Long is a veteran educator of 35 years with experience across all levels from K-College. Caryn’s passion is in Elementary STEM-based teaching. She is a Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching recipient for the state of North Carolina and a recent inductee to the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Caryn is also an Albert Einstein Distinguished Teacher Fellowship awardee, placed at NASA Headquarters to develop education programs for Title I schools. Through that experience, she was hired at NASA to work in their education division as Manager for the NASA Digital Learning Network and while there, earned her Ph.D. in Educational Technology from Oklahoma State University. At the end of her tenure at NASA, she started teaching in the Florida public school system in Central Florida where she currently resides. Caryn is an Uppercase expert, passionate about supporting other teachers in everything from teaching hands-on, experiential STEM to sustaining yourself in the profession through self-care.