Standing at the far end of the full gymnasium with fellow faculty members at Bob Courtway Middle School in Conway, eighth-grade English teacher Corey Oliver had no inkling that he was about to be named a recipient of a nationally prestigious award for excellence in teaching.
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Even when philanthropist Michael Milken directed student volunteers to hold up placards showing the amount of the $25,000 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award and students were pounding the bleachers in anticipation of hearing the winner's name, Oliver didn't get it.
"The numbers were sounding good to me," said Oliver, 34, an 11-year teacher, recalled after the ceremony. "But honestly I had no idea it would be me."
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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