2018 Bucks County Teacher Of The Year Named

At the opening celebration of Inspire Federal Credit Union’s relocated branch in Bristol Borough on Saturday afternoon, the Bucks County Teacher of the Year for 2018 was announced.

Kathryn Liese, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade pre-engineering and STEM at Bensalem’s Cecelia Snyder Middle School, was named the winner of the competition that collected 200 nominations of teachers from around Bucks County.

Inspire Federal Credit Union President and CEO Jim Merrill said it was tough to pick a winner, but Liese received the highest marks from the judges.

The other top finalists were Kathleen Fitzpatrick from Conwell-Egan Catholic High School in Bristol Township and Staci Northrup from Makefield Elementary School in Lower Makefield.

Liese was awarded $2,500 and $500 was donated to Snyder Middle School. The runners-up each received $1,000 and $500 donated to their school. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick also presented each of the finalists with a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

In total, more than 30,000 votes were cast to choose the top 10 finalists.

Food trucks, a DJ, children’s entertainment, and a special cake were used to celebrate the Bucks County Teacher of the Year and the relocation of Inspire Federal Credit Union’s Bristol branch from Bath Road to 65 Commerce Circle in the borough.

This year’s Teacher of the Year contest was sponsored by Sperry Van Ness – Ahia Commercial Real Estate, Kim Rock Group – Keller Williams Real Estate, Lykon Automotive, Peruzzi Nissan, and LevittownNow.com.