Prospect Physics teacher Katie Page received a mysterious call on a random Wednesday. At first she thought that the caller had the wrong phone number, but they did not. The caller was a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) calling to let her know that she had won Physics Teacher of the Year. 

“He told me [that I had won] and I thought it wasn’t even real, like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I was really shocked,” Page said. 

Page had not received the initial email that she was intended to, informing her she had won a few weeks prior to the call. As a result, she found out that she had won the award within the same week of her having to attend the acceptance meeting. She only had two days to figure out how to get to Northern Illinois University to be ready to accept the award. 

In order for her to win the award, someone from the AAPT had to nominate her. The man who nominated her had seen her classes online and said that he “always saw her doing something interesting and innovative in her classroom” and that prompted him to submit her name. 

Page has been teaching Physics for 27 years and although she was nervous to accept the award in front of everyone, she is so grateful to have won Physics Teacher of the Year. 

“I tried to just kind of take it in and feel proud because I work really hard every day and sometimes forget that,” Page said.