WINONA, Texas — On Tuesday morning, an East Texas middle school principal got the surprise of a lifetime. He thought it would be a regular day at work, but little did he know what was waiting for him.
"Today was a celebration of excellence in education. In the state of Texas there are almost 9,000 campuses, 5.5 million souls in Texas public schools, and 800,000 people work in public education, but today we were here at Winona Middle School to celebrate an achievement that’s extraordinary," Mike Morath, Texas commissioner of education, said.
Out of all those campuses, Morath and other representatives made a trip to Winona for a big surprise. The Milken Educator Award was presented to Winona Middle School Principal Johnny Walker. This award is often referred to as the "Oscar of Education" and comes with a check for $25,000.
Jane Foley, senior vice president of the Milken Family Foundation, said that it’s a true honor to be a recipient.
"We believe that educators that receive our award represent the top 1% of the profession out of all the educators," Foley said.
To make it more impressive, there are no nominations and no applications for this award. The foundation seeks out exceptional educators, and completely surprises them with this honor.
"We’re looking for someone who is a role model. We just saw hundreds of students stand for a principal when they saw him honored. He has such an influence on his students, his staff and his community," Foley said.
And Walker is the first ever Winona ISD employee to achieve it.
"I’m still shaken up and reeling over this amazing honor! Never did I expect this, but like I said before, to God be the glory," Walker said.
He said that there are so many hardworking teachers at Winona Middle School. So he was completely taken off guard to find out the award was for him.
"I’ve kind of heard a little bit about the Milken Educator Award. So I knew some of the components, but it was just amazing. I was looking out at some of our teachers thinking it could be any one of our amazing teachers," Walker said.
He was celebrated by his school and community members. Even Gov. Greg Abbott sent him a video message to congratulate him. It was all so surreal that Walker wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe the big news. In a phone call to his wife, she was in shock as well.
"I’m still shaken up right now but I have been named one of the new Milken educators in the state of Texas! I’m bringing home a check for $25,000," Walker said.
To which his wife responded by saying, "No, you are lying!"
Walker now has an extremely proud school, family, and East Texas community!