This year’s winner of Secondary Teacher of the Year for Round Rock ISD was Erin Balfour, one of the English III and AP English III teachers.

“At first I was surprised, then incredibly honored,” Balfour said. “There are so many great teachers here at McNeil and across all the middle and high schools who are deserving, and it is an immense honor to be selected. I am really only a product of the the wonderful people around me. The marvelous teachers who have mentored me and taught alongside me over the years, the great students who sit in my classroom, and my family are the ones who have encouraged and supported me as a teacher, and they are the ones I hope to esteem through my award.”

Each school in the district nominates a teacher that they feel excelled in their teaching and deserves recognition, and out of those nominees one elementary and one secondary teacher is chosen.

Balfour, along with elementary school winner Melinda Schermerhorn, will move on to the regional competition. If they do well, they could possibly move on to the state and national competition. According to her students, Balfour is a great teacher and deserving of the award.

“Mrs. Balfour is the most helpful teacher I have,” junior Byron Minshew said. “She is always willing to answer any questions her students have, without ever showing signs of frustration.”

Balfour has taught for nine years, eight at McNeil, and she couldn’t be happier with her career.

“Being a teacher is what I have always wanted to do; not a firefighter, not an astronaut, not a nurse, teaching was always my dream,” Balfour said. “I truly love reading and writing and love the challenge of sharing that with students. I go home exhausted but fulfilled, and that is really all we can ask from our chosen profession. I look back and try to decipher what made me love learning, deeply thinking, and literature, and it comes down to the passionate teachers I had in my own education. I strive to find that energy and enthusiasm to pass on to my own students.”