Lise Murphy is Niwot Elementary School Teacher of the Year

Each year the St. Vrain Valley School District requests submissions from families for their annual Teacher of the Year award. Together with each school's input from their respective administrations, every elementary, middle and high school then reviews family submissions and nominates a teacher to send to the district-wide competition.

This year it came as no surprise to many of the students she has taught over the years that Niwot Elementary's 2022-2023 recipient is third-grade teacher, Lise Murphy.

Murphy has over thirty years experience in elementary education and has taught at Niwot Elementary for the past 15 years. Students describe her teaching style as "a big, warm hug."

School counselor Isabelle Goulder enjoys Mrs. Murphy's classroom motto to "ride the wave" of life - may that be the ups and downs of academics, friends, home life, or extracurriculars.

NES Principal Nancy Pitz finds Murphy's greatest strength to be her passion for students. "She truly gets to know each and every one of her students and what their interests are. She cares very much about their social-emotional well being. She also maintains a wonderful balance of high academic expectations and understanding."

During Niwot Elementary's last day of school picnic this past week, students and their parents waited in line to hug and say goodbye to Mrs. Murphy one last time. When asked what she enjoys most about teaching, she replied that her students "warm my heart."