(Riverton, WY) – Riverton teacher Reva Lobatos has been selected to receive the National Education Association Foundation’s 2025 Travelers Insurance Award for Teaching Excellence.
She attended last week’s Fremont County School District 25 Board of Trustees meeting to discuss the award, which she shares with 47 other educators throughout the United States.
“It’s an incredible honor and a testament to the collective effort that we put into our profession,” Lobatos said. “Being recognized at this level reinforces the impact that we have as educators – not just within the walls of our classrooms, but across our communities and beyond.”
Lobatos said she was “really surprised and deeply honored” to learn that she had been nominated for the award, which was granted after she traveled to Washington, D.C., in August for a teaching demonstration and “a really intense round of interviews” with the NEA.
Now, Lobatos said she is eligible for “the coveted Horace Mann Award,” which goes to five educators each year.
“There should be a press release about the Horace Mann Award sometime in October,” she said.
A “film crew from New York” is also scheduled to visit her classroom in October “to film and conduct interviews with parents, colleagues, and administrators,” Lobatos said.
The “short documentary” will be shown in February during the 2025 NEA Foundation Salute to Excellence in Education Gala in Washington, D.C., where Lobatos said one of the five Horace Mann Award recipients will be chosen to receive the “highest honor” – the NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence.
“I’ll let you know when I hear about the rest,” Lobatos said.
Several trustees thanked her this week for her “hard work and dedication,” and for representing FCSD 25 well throughout the award selection process.
The “most rewarding aspect” of that process “has been the opportunity to uplift the teaching profession (and) advocate for the power of public schools,” Lobatos said.
“Every day I’m motivated by my passion for teaching and the belief that we can always find new ways to inspire our students (and) improve our schools,” she said. “I’m eager to continue this journey, working alongside my fellow educators at Fremont 25 to shape the future of our students and our schools.”