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"Inside the Champlain Elementary School in Burlington, Vt., Monday, students filed into the gym and sang songs as they do at any assembly, but they found out they were in for a huge surprise. \"One of the best teachers in the entire country, out of over 3-million teachers, is here in your school,\" Jane Foley of the Milken Family Foundation told the students.The Milken Family Foundation was in town from Santa California, Calif. handing out the prestigious $25,000 prize that is sometimes nicknamed the \"Oscar Award of Teaching.\" It went to Matt Hajdun, who rose from his seat stunned after hearing his name announced. \"I'm really shocked,\" he told the audience. \"I was honestly thinking about my lunch for my field trip!\"Hajdun and other teachers who received the gift did not apply for this honor; nor were they nominated. Education departments appoint blue-ribbon committees to secretly find deserving recipients, Foley explained. Up to 40 in the country will receive education prizes this year.Foley said the Milken Family Foundation looks for teachers in the early or middle stages of their career who have the potential to make long-term contributions to policy through their leadership. The group also wants to recognize folks who are innovative and inspirational, Foley said. She explained that the award alternates between elementary and secondary educators.\"He is a great teacher inside and outside the classroom,\" said Champlain Elementary principal Leslie Colomb. \"He does teach in both English and Spanish.\"Colomb added that Hajdun sets up a relaxing classroom, tailors lessons to meet the needs of all students, and is a busy volunteer focused on inclusion of students with disabilities and ones from different ethnic backgrounds. \"We have all these different cultures coming together,\" Hajdun said of the Champlain Elementary community. \"And kids are really willing to be together and work together and learn together.\"Hajdun's class was very proud to know they're learning from one of the best. \"He's really creative,\" said student Summer Grace.Another student, Casey Allen, also had high praise: \"He is the best teacher a student could ever imagine in her life,\" she said.\"I stuck my hand out and his hand was really, really, really sweaty,\" student Kolby Darrah said, recalling the moment when Hajdun returned to meet his class after receiving the surprise payday. \"If I won that amount of dollars, I would be sweaty!\"One thing Hajdun won't have to sweat is how to spend his $25,000. Milken Family Foundation award recipients can do whatever they want with their gifts, Foley said.Other New England educators received Milken Family Foundation honors, too:\u2022 Allen Cameron, a principal at Deerfield Elementary School in Westwood, Mass.\u2022 Gus Carlson, a music teacher at the Adeline Marston Elementary School in Hampton, N.H.\u2022 Yanaiza Gallant, a reading teacher at the Lillian Feinstein Elementary School in Providence, R.I.The Milken Family Foundation hinted to New England Cable News that another New England recipient will be announced in the coming weeks."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.mynbc5.com/article/vt-teacher-receives-prestigious-award-25-000/3305526>