BHS Teacher Makes Quarter Finals for America’s Favorite Teacher

Steven Watson, Borger High School’s American Literature teacher, has made it to the quarter-finals in the America’s Favorite Teacher competition hosted by Reader’s Digest. Watson was nominated by a former student and was accepted into the competition along with more than 74,000 other teachers nationwide. Now, he is seeking support from the community to help push him to the top.

The competition started at the beginning of April and is set to finish on May 30th. The way the competition works is competitors receive votes online from supporters, and the one who has the most votes wins. Supporters can vote once a day for free, or they can purchase votes at a rate of one dollar per vote. It should be noted that some days have double votes, where you get two votes for the price of one.

The proceeds from the purchased votes go to Teach for America, a non-profit organization that works with teachers, school districts, and policymakers to ensure students have the best learning experience possible.

Watson has worked at Borger High School for the last seven years, teaching English at various grade levels.

You may also recognize his name from his time as the Speech and Debate Coach, where he coached the speech team to four National competitions back-to-back. Even though he stepped away from the speech and debate team to focus on family matters, he continues to teach American Literature to the Borger Junior class.

Watson was born and raised here, competing on the speech and debate team. He graduated from BHS in 2007 and went on to WTAMU, where he received his bachelor’s degree in speech communication. He then went to work at the Youth Center of the High Plains as a juvenile supervision officer and from there to the Amarillo GlobeNews as a copy editor and later the Pampa News as a reporter. In 2017, he joined the staff of BHS as the English III teacher, bringing his real-world experiences to the classroom and mixing them with the rich philosophies of American Literature to challenge his students to think about current events in wise and pragmatic ways.

“For me, the best part of the job is watching the lights come on. When students start to recognize personal agency and come to realize that their decisions have real consequences, that’s the best feeling,” Watson said.

“Knowing that I was able to help them recognize that and then employ wisdom to make good decisions, that’s what makes it all worth it.”

“Ultimately, this competition is a fundraiser that helps to better students in some of the worst areas of the United States,” Watson said.

“If I can help foster quality education and win a vacation simultaneously, I call that a win-win.”

The prize for winning the competition is a one-week trip to Maui, $25,000, and a 2-3 page spread in Reader’s Digest. To help support Mr. Watson as America’s Favorite Teacher, you can go to https://americasfavteacher.org/2024/steven (https://americasfavteacher. org/2024/steven), find his link on his Facebook profile, or save and scan the included QR code and remember to vote daily.

With the competition entering the quarter-final round, the pool of teachers has been reduced from 74,000 teachers to the top 740. The quarter-finals voting schedule will run from May 6 -16.

The winners from that bracket will move on to the semifinals from May 17-23 and then finals from May 24-31.