Name: Mary Kay Nevius-MaurerHonored by The Carroll County...

Name: Mary Kay Nevius-Maurer

Honored by The Carroll County Sun for: Being named Carroll County Teacher of the Year

Age: 40

Residence; hometown: just outside Manchester

Education: Western Maryland College, master of liberal arts in 1980 and bachelor of arts, summa cum laude and departmental honors in 1974; North Carroll High School

Family: Husband: George Maurer, 39; daughter: Amber, 4

Place of worship: St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Manchester

Activities/hobbies: English department chair at Westminster High School, teacher for the last 18 years there. Between work and spending time with Amber, "I would love to still be able to garden, cross-stitch and read."

Accomplishments: "To me, an accomplishment is any little success you get in a classroom." Also, she has been named a WMC Distinguished Teacher, a Carroll County Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Teacher, a St. Mary's College Exceptional Teacher and the Maryland Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts High School Teacher of the Year. She also has been named in "Who's Who Among American Educators"

Recipient's comments: "I love teaching writing. I love when students see relationships between what they have read and their own lives, because literature is life. The other subject I thought about teaching was math, but that wouldn't have worked out very well. There is only one answer. English is just so much more interesting -- maybe it's because there's a wider variety of responses. It's life, and there's no way you can get around it.