Kathryn Woerner

Kathryn Woerner, a teacher at Vernon Middle School in Marion, is the winner of the Iowa State Education Association’s 2012 Excellence in Education Award.

Woerner teaches seventh grade social studies at the middle school, which is part of the Marion Independent School District. The award comes with a $1,000 individual cash prize from the Iowa Farm Bureau and another $1,000 for her school, which she received at the Excellence in Education banquet in Des Moines on Nov. 12.

Four other teachers each took home $100 from the Iowa State Education Association as runners up: Pam Anderson, a math teacher at East Middle School in Sioux City; Daniel Leinen, a vocational agriculture teacher at the Harlan Community School District; Tracey Matt, an English teacher at Albia Community High School in Albia and Rhonda Mohl, an alternative education teacher at Northeast Alternative School in Goose Lake.