Nicole Bishop, a teacher at Irmo Elementary School in District 5 of Lexington and Richland Counties , has been named the 2017 South Carolina History Teacher of the Year. This award is presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a national organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.

"Our state and nation have a rich history that not only teaches students about the past but instills in them values that help shape them into productive citizens," said State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. "I congratulate Nicole on being chosen as a shining example of our many outstanding history teachers in South Carolina and know that she will continue to be a leader for her students and her peers."

Inaugurated in 2004, the History Teacher of the Year Award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school. The award honors one K-12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools and US Territories. In fall 2017, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners. In 2015 Mary Huffman of Pinckney Elementary in Charleston County School District was named the 2015 National History Teacher of the Year. 

In 1995, Nicole Bishop received her bachelor’s degree from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and in 2000, she completed a master’s degree in language and literacy education from The University of South Carolina.   In 2001 and 2011, Bishop earned National Board Certification as an early childhood generalist.  Bishop’s passion for history, literacy and the arts have been combined in her classroom, and her students have reaped the benefits. Bishop says, “I teach because every student citizen in my care is indeed part of our great American posterity and because I feel called, like Frederick Douglass and Mary McLeod Bethune, to instill a desire for education and belief in freedom for all."

In addition to a $1,000 honorarium and an award ceremony, Nicole's school library will receive a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials. Ms. Bishop will also receive an invitation to a 2018 Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar, a weeklong program that offers teachers daily discussions with eminent historians, visits to historic sites, and hands-on work with primary sources. 

The National History Teacher of the Year award will be presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner at a ceremony in New York City on November 8, 2017. Past presenters at the ceremony include the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, First Lady Laura Bush, former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

Nominations for the 2018 History Teacher of the Year awards are now open. Students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors may nominate K-12 teachers for the award by visiting gilderlehrman.org/nhtoy. The deadline for 2018 nominations is March 30, 2018.