Oregon’s Star Teacher of 2022

WHEN Ethelyn Tumalad-Granados MA ’16 MEd ’17 arrived at school for an early morning staff meeting in September, little did she know she was in for a big surprise. State officials announced her as Oregon’s new Teacher of the Year, handed her the $5,000 prize and praised her for her work as an exemplary educator, student advocate and equity champion. “Educators like you are the shining stars our students need,” Gov. Kate Brown said. Tumalad-Granados teaches language arts and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) at Clackamas High School, and she knows firsthand the importance of positive role models. She came to the Pacific Northwest from the Philippines at age five, and it was her only teacher of color, Miss Pritchard, who first encouraged her to excel in school. “Here was someone who looked like me, and she saw something within me,” she said. She started her first affinity group while at the College of Education. “I saw how much the educators of color needed to be together,” she said. “I want to shine a light on recruitment and retention of educators of color, because it is so important for the students.”