Jan 31, 2025 | By: Miles Walker
Brainerd High School Teacher Awarded 2025 Innovative Teacher of the Year
The Innovative Schools Project surprised Brainerd High School teacher Nicole Harmer with the 2025 Innovative Teacher of the Year award today.
ISP presents the award each year to a public school educator in Region Five who has demonstrated innovation in an effort to broaden students’ learning.
Harmer is a 1991 Brainerd High School graduate and has been a teacher there for 28 years. She has taught both AP Biology and Chemistry for over two decades. She also started the AP Capstone program and began teaching AP Research two years ago.
“Part of it is just being willing to try new things, even if you’re not sure what the outcome will be,” said Harmer. “And this program really fit the bill in the sense that we’re not taking tests, we’re not memorizing content, and I had no idea how it was going to go at first. But, sometimes if you just have the faith that the children can do it, that students are actually capable, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”
Harmer received a $1,000 classroom grant and will be formally recognized at the Sourcewell Educators of Excellence event later this year.