Lynette Stant, a 3rd grade teacher at Salt River Elementary in the Salt River Schools district is the Arizona Educational Foundation's 2020 Arizona Teacher of the Year.

Stant, a fifteen-year veteran teacher, is the first teacher working in a Bureau of Indian Education school to be named an Arizona Teacher of the Year, and the first Native teacher to be chosen.

"I became a teacher because I don't ever want Native American students to feel they are not prepared to meet the challenges of college," says Stant. "Providing equitable learning opportunities in an environment that respects and honor...