Bainbridge High School science teacher Charisa Moore has been named the 2018 “Educator of the Year” by the Bainbridge Island Kiwanis Club.

The annual award program presented by the Kiwanis Club honors an educator who has made extraordinary efforts toward improving the education of Bainbridge children. Besides recognition, the award includes a $500 grant to the honoree, and an additional $500 grant to their school.

Moore is the 10th recipient of the honor.

Kiwanis Club president Jim Copen will present the award to Moore at the club’s breakfast meeting on Wednesday, July 11 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Community members — including parents, students, teachers and friends — are cordially invited to attend the event, which begins at 7 a.m.

“Bainbridge High School Principal Kristen Haizlip, fellow teachers and students nominated Moore for this honor,” Copen said. “Her committed relationships with her students over a lengthy period of time make her a truly worthy recipient of this year’s award.”

In a letter of nomination from one of Moore’s former students who had her as a teacher for two classes, Biology and Biomedical Engineering-Human Body Systems, recalled that, “As a teacher Ms. Moore goes out of her way to make sure that her students, present and past succeed. She brought the Health Occupations Student of America club to BHS while constantly doing extra research to advise students in all fields of competition such as forensics, biomedical engineering and sports medicine. We have many dedicated teachers in our school district, but I can’t think of anyone who has helped advance students more than Ms. Moore. She really lives up to her name!”

“Charisa Moore brings enthusiasm and energy into her classroom every day,” noted Haizlip, BHS’s principal. “She is interested in making real-world connections, and hopes to inspire a love of biology and biomedical sciences in her students. Additionally, Charisa gives hours of her time outside of the classroom to support the interests and passions of the student body — from being an advisor to our school’s National Honor Society, to her deep involvement in the Biomedical Engineering Club.”

Moore was born and raised in Bellingham, and spent many years of her youth in Puyallup and Vancouver, Washington. She was an undergraduate at the University of Oregon where she received a bachelor of science degree, and received her master’s degree in education at Walden University.

She has taught for 27 years; 10 in Vancouver and the past 20 on Bainbridge Island. She and her husband Brian have two daughters.

Past recipients earning this teaching honor include, Mary Alice O’Neill, Ian Eisenhood, Adam Rabinowitz, Sean Eaton, Christine Fulgham, Maureen Wilson, Enrique Chee, Leslie Mirkovich and Mike Durzon.

The Educator of the Year selection committee once again had several outstanding people to choose from this year, Copen encouraged community members to nominate worthy teachers for future Kiwanis Educator of the Year awards.