MADISON — State Superintendent Tony Evers will deliver his annual State of Education address at noon, Thursday, Sept. 21, in the State Capitol in Madison.
Wendell Waukau, superintendent for the Menominee Indian School District, will give the welcome for the State of Education program and serve as master of ceremonies. The Monona Grove Silver Connection will sing “Nobody” as a prelude to the event. The show choir, from Monona Grove High School, is under the direction of Lori Nahirniak. Josey Schanan, senior at Port Washington High School and 2017 Badger Boys State Superintendent, will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Jonathan Overby, lyric baritone and host for Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Higher Ground,” will sing the national anthem. Mariana Beltran Hernandez, 2017 Badger Girls State Superintendent, will introduce Evers. Beltran Hernandez is a senior at Burlington High School. The Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard will provide a color guard for the program, with cadence provided by Autumn Erickson, a student at Deerfield High School.
Following the State of Education address, Evers will present five Friend of Education awards. Recipients are: 100 Black Men of Madison Inc.; Thomas W. Boelter, education and culture director for the Forest County Potawatomi, Crandon; Door County Civility Project; Maysee Yang Herr of Wausau, associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; and Reach Out and Read Wisconsin: An Initiative of Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin. The state superintendent also will recognize Wisconsin’s four Teachers of the Year for the 2017-18 school year: Mary Ellen Kanthack, fifth-grade teacher in the Genoa City J2 School District; Matthew W. Miller Sr., English learner teacher at North High School in Sheboygan and Wisconsin’s representative to the National Teacher of the Year program; Jill Runde, school counselor at Indian Mound Middle School in McFarland; and Brent Zinkel, history teacher at Wausau East High School. The postlude, “Dare to Dream,” sung by Monona Grove Silver Connection, will conclude the program.