By David Farmrbough, Special for the City-Times

Wisconsin Rapids Rafters have announced Woodside Elementary School’s Scott Sigourney as Skyward Central Wisconsin Teacher of The Year.

Scott Sigourney, fifth grade teacher at Woodside Elementary School in Wisconsin Rapids was nominated by his students in the competition run by the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters baseball team, and sponsored by  schools software company Skyward Inc.

The Rafters’ general manager John Fanta presented Sigourney with the award on Friday, in front of all fifth grade students and staff at Woodside Elementary School.

The competition was announced in December, and required elementary school students to write one-page essays to nominate teachers they felt had made a real impact on their lives. The winning teacher will be celebrated at the Educators’ Appreciation Night in an upcoming Rafters Game in the 2014 season.

A “bobblehead” is to be made of the winning teacher and distributed to fans that night, and Sigourney will also be invited to throw out he first pitch. He and his family will receive free tickets to attend the game, courtesy of Wisconsin-based school software provider Skyward.

Over 250 entries were received from students in several school districts in the area. A system was developed to narrow down the submissions, rating entrants by number of nominations, years of service by the teacher, essay substance regarding the teacher, principal recommendation, and the most unique teacher characteristics as described by the students. Over ten percent of the essays focused on Mr. Scott Sigourney, who has served 21 years at Woodside. Of the submissions for Mr. Sigourney, six grade levels were represented.

“After a thorough review of all essay submissions from multiple grade levels, and consideration of the internal rating system put in place to aid in the selection, it was clear that Mr. Scott Sigourney was the distinct choice for the award this year,” said Fanta.  “We are thrilled with the enthusiastic participation by students in the essay contest.  This exercise not only highlights one teacher, but helps reiterate the profound impact that all teachers have on shaping the lives of our youth.”

The Rafters will choose one essay as winner of the competition in the coming weeks, and that student will also receive free tickets to the Educators’ Appreciation Night, together with a baseball autographed by the 2014 Rafters team, and a chance to be the Junior Public Address Announcer for one innings of the game.

The Skyward Educator’s Appreciation Night will be announced before the season begins, together with details of other promotional nights of the season.