Basketball and education come together tonight at Verizon Center when three students from the DC metro area will be celebrated along with their inspiring teachers. Center for Inspired Teaching and the Washington Wizards teamed up to promote an essay contest this spring in which elementary, middle, and high school students were asked to write about how their teachers inspire them. Winning essays were selected from each grade level category and students, and the teachers they wrote about, will be honored at the Wizards’ last home game of the season.

Each winner and teacher will receive a prize package from the Washington Wizards and Center for Inspired Teaching. All students who entered the contest and the teachers they wrote about received free tickets to the game. Full text of the winning essays and excerpts from all others that were submitted can be found at www.inspiredteaching.org.

“We received nearly 600 essays from DC, Maryland and Virginia. The outpouring from students who wanted to recognize their teachers was moving and powerful. This contest reaffirms the vital role teachers play in shaping our community,” said Aleta Margolis, Executive Director of Center for Inspired Teaching.

“It has been a pleasure to participate in a contest that focuses on the positive things teachers are doing in our schools,” said Judy Holland, Senior Vice President of Community Relations. “They are unsung heroes, but through their students’ words we’re hearing about the amazing things they do each day.”

This year’s winners are:

Alexandra Butler, from West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia and her high school math teacher John Glaze who “works with each and every student in order to help them thrive and fully understand the subject.”

Mia De Jesus-Martin, from Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Washington, DC and her sixth grade reading teacher Nzingha Tingling-Clemmons who “with her outgoing personality and her fantastic sense of humor…reaches me every time.”

Armani Noble, from Garrison Elementary School in Washington, DC and her third grade teacher Janice Schuler about whom she says, “having a teacher that cares so much about me is the best thing a smart young child could have.”

Wizards Care is the community service program of the Washington Wizards. The entire organization, from team owners Irene and Abe Pollin to players, coaches and employees, is committed to investing time and resources to Wizards Care. By providing assistance to the youth, homeless and underserved in the DC metropolitan area, Wizards Care hopes to inspire others to do the same.

Center for Inspired Teaching is a DC-based nonprofit that exists to ensure schools make the most of children’s innate desire to learn by investing in teachers through courses, mentoring, and school partnerships.