Two Deer Valley Unified School District teachers were recently honored with national awards.

NEA Travelers Award for Teaching Excellence

Emmett Burnton, Boulder Creek High School

The National Education Association Foundation provides national recognition to educators across the country who give visibly to the excellence of public education.

The 2026 recipients of the NEA Travelers Award for Teaching Excellence, selected by their respective NEA affiliates, represent educators from across the country who advocate for their profession, demonstrate commitment to equity and opportunity, engage with their communities, and lead in professional developments.

All state affiliates nominate an educator to be celebrated as their representative for their respective state.

This year the Arizona affiliate chapter of AEA selected Boulder Creek High School’s AP World History and U.S. History dual enrollment teacher Emmett Burnton.

“This award represents the success of Deer Valley and our mission as we aspire to build bridges rather than walls across the state,” Burnton said in a statement to the school district. “This award proves that within our schools we give students the opportunity to become active participants in a world around them rather than just bystanders.”

Burnton, who was also named Arizona Teacher of the Year in 2024 out of 625 statewide nominations, was also presented with a $5,000 check.

Michael A. Cusanovich Bioscience Educator of the Year

Kim Rodgers, Mountain Ridge High School

The honor, presented by the Arizona Bioindustry Association, is named for the emeritus regents’ professor and longtime University of Arizona research chief who passed away in 2010.

Mountain Ridge High School’s bio science teacher Kim Rodgers is one of only 41 teachers nationwide to be considered a Master Teacher for Project Lead The Way, a national nonprofit that provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and career and technical education (CTE) programs for PreK-12 students. In fact Rodgers is the lead Master Teacher in the nation, and facilitates professional developments throughout the U.S., as well as developing national bioscience curriculums.

Her influence goes beyond the classroom.

Working partnerships with Mayo Clinic, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Midwestern University, and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), have allowed her students real world medical experience all before graduating high school.

Rodgers was nominated by Gale Beauchamp, the director of industry and education partnerships at the Office of the Maricopa County Superintendent, in recognition for the opportunities Rodgers has provided for Project Lead the Way’s Biomedical Sciences four-course program at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale.

“I enjoy guiding students as they develop critical thinking, creativity and laboratory skills to solve real world problems,” she said in a statement to the school district. “Teaching the Project Lead the Way biomedical science program allows me to witness students’ growth and discovery of their passion for their futures.”