​Council Rock Educator In The Running For "America’s Favorite Teacher"

NEWTOWN, PA — A Council Rock educator is in the running for the title of "America’s Best Teacher."

Goodnoe Elementary School gifted support teacher Megan Benzio has made it to the quarter-final round of the nationwide competition sponsored by Reader’s Digest. Now she needs the community’s support to make it to the next round and eventually across the finish line.

The winner will be determined by how many votes they can accumulate over the next three weeks. The quarter-final round of online voting opened on Monday, May 6 at noon and will continue to May 16. The votes will then reset with the winner of the quarter-final round advancing to the semi-final and then to the final round.

The public gets one free vote per day, which will need to be verified through a Facebook account. Additional votes can be cast with donations to Teach for America, a nonprofit that finds, develops and supports equity-oriented leaders to transform education and expand opportunity for all children.

CLICK HERE TO READ MEGAN'S PROFILE AND TO VOTE FOR HER

The grand prize winner will be announced "on or around" June 7. The top vote-getter will win a trip to Hawaii, $25,000 in cash and a feature in Reader's Digest.

“My life’s mission is to change the lives of kids and to get them to fall in love with learning,” said Benzio when asked why the community should cast its vote for her. “We have a lot of fun. We laugh a lot. I want the students to know that they are loved and they are cared for.”

Benzio began her teaching career 20 years with the School Lane Charter School in Bensalem before being hired by Council Rock and Superintendent Mark Klein for a teaching position at Churchville
Elementary. She was then transferred to Goodnoe Elementary where she has spent the last 18 years as a gifted support teacher teaching social studies and science to second through six graders.

Benzio admits that she was “a complete loser” during her high school years. "I slept on the desk and I got a terrible score on my SAT,” she said, adding with some embarrassment that she graduated near the bottom of her class.

After graduating, she worked as a waitress for six years. “I was without health insurance. My feet were killing me. And the last straw was two customers left without paying their bill and left no tip," she said.

Students at work inside Benzio's classroom at Goodnoe Elementary School.

That's when fate stepped in. About a week later her dad called and invited her into his Council Rock classroom to talk about her experiences living in Colorado and hiking the Rocky Mountains.

“Literally the second I got into the classroom and started talking to the kids I was hooked,” she said. “This is what I need to be doing. The next day I signed up for Temple University and I ended up graduating with straight As. I had the potential the whole time, I just didn’t believe in myself," she said.

Benzio now uses her own story to encourage her students to take their education seriously and to strive for greatness.

"I love to see the excitement on their face when they solve a problem, or hear them say things like ‘I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,’ knowing that they are excited to come to my class," said Benzio in her profile.

She adds, "I treat every child as if they share my last name, and they know my motto - ‘Once A Benzio, Always a Benzio.’ The kids know that I am their number one supporter and cheerleader," she says. "I strive to be my kids’ favorite teacher - every day."

In the classroom, she is known for her adventurous tales, like the time she ate skunk in a survival skills class she took in the Rocky Mountains.

“Our instructor was this crazy army guy who just saw a skunk get killed and he had it slung over his shoulder. ‘We’re going to eat it tonight,’ he told us. After 12 hours of hiking, he lit a fire and it
started to smell like bacon and I was lured into it and it actually didn’t taste too bad.”

As her students no doubt cringed at the thought of eating skunk, she told them that “if you’re out in the wilderness and that is your only way of surviving, you’re going to do whatever you can to survive,” she said. “I also tie it in with our lessons. We study Lewis and Clark and the distance they hiked and how they had a food shortage.

“The kids like to hear my stories because it connects them to what we're learning,” adds Benzio.

Another story she likes to tell is when she was evacuated during a camping trip in Iceland by search and rescue.

“At 3 in the morning, 40 knot winds completely demolished my tent so my husband and my kids had to be evacuated. They drove us a mile back to our cars at 3 a.m. With no where to stay we had to figure out how we were going to continue our 14 day vacation because our tent was destroyed.”

She also relates a story about hiking in Peru and stumbling upon a human jaw bone.

“When I’m teaching my kids about Mesoamerica I tell them what it was like to run my hands along the rocks where the Incas built Machu Picchu. That’s something every teacher dreams of and the fact that we found a human jaw bone just made me feel like Indiana Jones.”

Her stories always relate back to what her students are learning in the classroom, making the connection in a personal way.

“We do a lot of experimentation - everything from exploding volcanoes to building replicas of ancient civilizations. We put on plays and productions to get them excited about learning,” she relates.

"My most memorable times have been when I have stepped in to show a child how much I love them. Whether it was taking a boy with no parents to the ‘mother son’ event, or sitting with a former 5th grader who came back in his 20s to cry his eyes out to me about a bad break up. My students know that I am always here for them."

Adds Benzio, “Council Rock has given me an opportunity to live out my dream. I have always felt supported and encouraged by them. I feel incredibly privileged to work here. They allow me to be creative in my lessons and I thank them every day for being here and helping to shape so many young lives."