School wasn’t always easy for Corey Bulman.
When he was a child, Bulman received special services and often was on the brink of being held back a year in school. But all that changed in high school because he had teachers who believed in him.
Now 41 and an English teacher, Bulman was named Minnesota Teacher of the year on Sunday.
Bulman has taught at Mound Westonka High School in Minnestrista since beginning his teaching career in 2000.
Having teachers in his hometown of Horicon, Wis., believe in him — even when he didn’t believe in himself — led Bulman to pursue a career as a teacher.
“I am in awe of my students,” he said in accepting the award Sunday at the Radisson Blu in Bloomington. “They question. They think, and they see the world as it could be. I learn more from them than I can ever give in return, and I am proud to be their teacher. I send out a thanks to every student that has ever passed through my room. You mean so much to me.”
Education is a gift that is renewed every time it is shared, he wrote in his candidate portfolio.
I learn more from them than I can ever give in return, and I am proud to be their teacher.
One of his former students, Sara Strother, wrote in Bulman’s recommendation letter that Bulman made her believe in herself.
“Corey doesn’t just care about the people in his classroom,” she wrote. “He cares about how to make them better people, thinkers and leaders of thoughtful lives.”
The Minnesota Teacher of the Year program has recognized pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers annually for the past 53 years.
Also selected as finalists for the award were Ali Alowonle, Greta Callahan, Adrian Davis, Michael Houston, Scott Noet, Teresa Stadem, Charity Przepiora, Sarah Swan McDonald, Ong Xiong and Mary Zilge.