As the nomination period for the 2026 Teacher of the Year rapidly approaches, classrooms and hallways in Marion County buzz with anticipation.
Bethany Crawford reminisces on the night she received the prestigious honor in 2015. At the ceremony, she was sitting next to another finalist named Beth, a woman she was sure would win, but Bethany remembers feeling disbelief when her name was called, convinced she hadn’t heard it right.
“I was so sure that it wasn’t going to be me that I told my parents, they had another obligation that night, and I told them, ‘Don’t worry, do what you need to do.’” she said, laughing. “So, they were pretty mad at me for a while.”
For the longtime social studies teacher at Forest High School, the honor was validation for not just her, but her students as well.
“I think just a lot of people, for whatever reason, didn’t have the best connotation of what high school kids do and are. It was just kind of validation that, yeah, high school kids are pretty amazing and I’m pretty lucky everyday to do what I do.”
“Gosh, I'm crying already. I am so happy that I had you both for class because I undoubtedly am only here because of you.”Letter to Ms. Crawford from a former student
A proud Marion County public schools alumna, Crawford started her 28 year career at her alma mater, North Marion High. She spent years in diverse classrooms throughout the northeast before settling at Forrest High. No matter where she taught, her passion stayed the same: helping students learn how to think, read and write for themselves.
When she won Teacher of the Year, Crawford didn’t know how deeply the award would shape her path. She was encouraged to move into administration and for two years she served as an assistant principal of curriculum at Lake Weir Middle School. The experience taught her a lot, but it also made her realize where her heart truly belonged.
“It’s just not for me. I’m a classroom teacher, like I love what I do. I love teaching history, love teaching kids,” Crawford said.
“Thank you for giving me confidence in my academic abilities and making me comfortable in a class that was completely foreign to me.”Letter to Ms. Crawford from a former student
When she returned to the classroom, the district welcomed her back with open arms. Winning the Golden Apple had given her confidence, but returning to teaching gave her purpose and perspective.
“After teaching for that many years, it kind of breathes new life into you and it kind of recenters you,” she said. “Like this is my purpose, this is what I was meant to do, I’m in the right place.”
Reflecting on the lasting impact her own teachers had reminded Crawford of the power she has to make a difference every single day. Her favorite reminders of why she teaches come in the form of what she calls “Smiles” – a folder she keeps full of handwritten notes, emails and messages from former students and parents.
“You know if you’re having a bad day or a rough something, you can pull that up and you look at it and you’re like ‘Okay, yeah, I made a difference and this is a moment in time and this will pass too,’” she said emotionally.
“You are not only such an amazing teacher but someone who I always knew had a real interest in our success as students and people.”Letter to Ms. Crawford from a former student
Some of those messages date back more than 20 years. From heartfelt thank-yous to updates from former students who’ve carried her lessons into their lives and careers, these small tokens of gratitude and encouragement are something Crawford treasures deeply.
“What you really really want to do is find out what you love, and then find a way to make money doing it,” Crawford said. “That’s what I’ve done.”
Down the hall at Forest High, another longtime educator and Golden Apple winner, David Steffey, is in his fifth year at the school with the same desire to stay in the classroom. Steffey has taught for 33 years across five schools, spanning grades three through 10.
“Everything has been checked off and then some,” he said. “The last thing on the list was high school.”
Along with Crawford, Steffey also had a brief point in his career where he was pushed into administration. When he finished a demanding five-year stretch as dean of students at a high-needs elementary school, he realized that while administrators shape schools, teachers shape lives.
“The person who makes the biggest difference is the person in the classroom,” he said. “Plain and simple.”
His journey to becoming Marion County’s Teacher of the Year in 2014 began years earlier in a downtown Orlando school that has since permanently closed. The need he saw there led him to help create “Tools for Teaching,” a free resource store for Marion County educators still thriving today. But he was never chasing recognition.
“When I’m at school, I’m on stage. That’s what’s expected. When I’m not at school, the last thing I want is to be on stage,” Steffey said.
Over the decades, Steffey has watched teaching change at breakneck speed. A 1940s dictionary sits on his classroom shelf, a relic he uses to show students what learning once looked like.
“They've never lived in a world without everything at the palm of their hand. But, relationships still matter,” he said.
To him, that’s where the real work of teaching lives.
“What I have to be superior at is relationships with students,” Steffey said. “because if I've got that I can get them to do whatever it is that needs to be done.”
The relationships don’t end when the school year does. He tells his students to find him on social media after graduation and many of them do. He quietly celebrates with them their new homes, families and milestones, the same way he once handed out pencils or gave high-fives in the classroom.
“We see you as the student for 180 days and then we pass you on. And if we’re lucky we see you in the hallway and then your life goes on and we don’t know what happens. So social media has been a wonderful way for me to continue to keep up with my students,” Steffey said.
While the future winners of this award may get lured into administrative roles, for Crawford and Steffey, being named the best teacher in the district meant staying in the roles they truly loved.
The nominees for the 2026 Teacher of the Year have not yet been announced.