PRHS Teacher Named 2010 PA Teacher of the Year

Media Archives

Awards Presentation
Airing on PR-TV

Wednesdays - 7 p.m.*
Sundays - 4 p.m. *


*Armstrong Digital Channel 211& Regular Cable Channel 50.  
*Consolidated Subscribers Channel 404.

(Gibsonia, PA) Pine-Richland School District honored Michelle Switala at the Nov. 17 PR School Board Meeting. The board officially congratulated Switala.

Switala was issued citations from Senator Jane Orie's and Senator Mike Turzai's offices. Fellow teachers and administrators showed up to celebrate her accomplishment.

On Oct. 27, 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Education announced Switala was the 2010 Teacher of the year.

Switala has been with the Pine-Richland School District since 1995 and teaches mathematics at the high school. She has taught all math courses at one time or other offered by PRHS and is dually certified in physics.  She also serves as the PRSD Math Department Chair.

PRHS Teacher Michelle Switala will travel to Dallas Jan. 26-31 for the National Teacher of the Year Annual Conference. During that trip, the National Teacher of the Year will be announced. She will also have a chance to travel to Washington, DC.

"Students come to me and either love or hate math," Switala said. "It's my job to help them break it down and show them math can be reachable."

TV and newspaper reports are buzzing about the 2010 PA Teacher of the year. Click here for the TV & Newspaper articles.

See the 2010 PA Teacher of the Year Awards presentation right here on PR-TV. The presentation is airing 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Earlier this year, Switala was named a finalist along with Hance Elementary School teacher Barb Cornibe, also in the Pine-Richland School District.  They were two of only 12 state finalists and the only finalists in southwestern Pennsylvania.   

In March, Switala and Cornibe were named semifinalists along with Pine-Richland School District's Elementary School's Kelly Heckert, who is a teacher at Richland Elementary School.