State’s Teacher of the Year speaking Feb. 20 at Trine

Trine University’s Franks School of Education will host Tara Cocanower, Indiana’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, at its annual Excellence in Education Speaker Series on Feb. 20.

The event will be held from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in Fabiani Theatre inside the Rick L. and Vicki L. James University Center, and will be free and open to the public.

Cocanower is a passionate educator at Bluffton High School, where she teaches world history, Advanced Placement world history and a principles of education course.

Cocanower graduated from Norwell High School before attending the University of Southern Indiana, where she graduated with honors and earned bachelor’s degrees in history and secondary education. She was a member of the women’s golf team and earned all-conference and academic all-American awards.

After college, Cocanower served in Romania in the Peace Corps as an education volunteer from 2008-2010.

She has worked for the Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan School District since 2014, where she is a coach, club sponsor and leader among her fellow teachers.

Cocanower was honored as the 2022 Bluffton-Harrison Teacher of the Year before being named the 2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year. She believes in creating an equitable and engaging learning environment for all students, supporting students’ social-emotional development, enhancing social studies literacy and empowering students to be world-changers.