BEA Teacher of the Year, Terri Cue, holds her award while surrounded by her fifth grade class students.

The students in Blue Earth Area’s Teacher of the Year honoree’s class were not too surprised their teacher, Terri Cue, received the award.

“Mrs. Cue believes we can do it.” “Mrs. Cue makes us work hard and doesn’t yell at us.” “She helps each person work to their own ability.” “She always has a positive attitude on things.” “She shows us pictures of her grandson.” “She is the best teacher.”

And, Mrs. Cue returns the compliments.

“This is my number one class,” she says with a smile. “I am so lucky they give me the best kids in the school to have in my class every year.”

Cue received the Teacher of the Year award from the Blue Earth Area Education Association at a reception at Hamilton Hall last Wednesday evening. She was selected from 11 teachers who had been nominated for the honor.

At the reception, all six retiring teachers were also honored.

The newly named Teacher of the Year says she cannot remember a time she did not want to be a teacher. “I?always wanted to work with kids. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Becker was wonderful,” Cue says. “I wanted to be her. I wanted to be a teacher.”

Cue grew up in Woodbine, Iowa, near Omaha. She attended Dana College for a while, then transferred to Northwest Missouri State.

Her husband, Al Cue, graduated from Dana College, and the two met at a homecoming celebration there.

“Al was already teaching in Winnebago,” she recalls. “He is three years older than I am. So we had a long distance dating relationship for a while.”

The two were married in 1987 and Terri Cue moved to Winnebago to be with her husband.

“They needed another teacher and I started in Winnebago in January of 1988,” she says. “I taught third through fifth grade over the years there. Once Al, Steve Fernholz and I all taught fifth grade in Winnebago.”

When the school in Winnebago closed, Terri Cue was moved to Blue Earth Elementary and has taught fifth grade for the past three years there.

Her favorite part of teaching? The students of course.

“We build a pretty special bond with them,” Cue says. “We watch them grow and mature throughout the year.”

And, she likes to go to all kinds of school events and see how her students are doing even in high school.

“I love going to BEA sports events,” Cue says. “Of course, when your husband is a coach, you end up going to a lot of games anyway.”

Her other favorite thing about her job is working with such wonderful people, she says.

“I value all the friendships I?have with all the other staff people I have worked with,” Cue explains. “Blue Earth Area has really had some outstanding teachers over the years.”

Teaching runs in Terri Cue’s family. Not only her husband Al, but the rest of the family as well. Their daughter Megan Sukalski, who had been working in Community Health, is just finishing up her teaching degree. Daughter Kayla Niesen is a teacher in Missouri.

“My parents were not teachers,” Cue says. “But, my father was president of the school board, and many of my parents’ friends were teachers and coaches. And my sister is a teacher, and my brother is a principal.”

When the new Teacher of the Year is not teaching or at home grading papers, or going to high school events, she likes to camp, hike and read books.

Cue says she is quite humbled to be recognized as the Teacher of the Year.

“Teaching becomes like a lifestyle,” she says. “I told my daughters it is a wonderful job to have, working with these kids. Every day is a little different, and I like that.”