Eric Bowers named P-H-M’s Secondary Teacher of the Year

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WNDU) - The Penn High School community managed to pull off a big surprise on Tuesday morning.

Eric Bowers is this year’s “Secondary Teacher of the Year” for the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. With the help of his students, some Penn administrators, coaches, fellow teachers and staff, Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker was able to keep the honor under wraps until the big announcement.

Bowers is busy at Penn High School. He coaches girls and boys tennis, serves as the social studies academic coach, leads the Muslim student association, and teaches multiple AP History classes.

Bowers said the honor is all about being surrounded by the right team.

“It is a big deal. There’s a lot of great teachers here at Penn. There’s a lot of great teachers that I work with and collaborate with and so forth,” Bowers said. “I’m blessed not only to have professional development here at Penn, but I’ve also been blessed to take professional development throughout not only the country, but the world.”

Bowers will receive a grant from the P-H-M Education Foundation to use in his classroom. He’ll also compete for Indiana’s Teacher of the Year, which will be announced in early fall 2024.

On Monday, Walt Disney Elementary School music teacher Robi Davidson was named the district’s “Elementary Teacher of the Year.”

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