32nd Annual Boca Raton Teacher of the Year Celebration

The Teacher of the Year event began in 1987 as just a dream of Sunrise Rotarian and current Palm Beach County School Board member Frank Barbieri, starting with just four teachers from Spanish River High School, Loggers Run Middle School and Coral Sunset and Whispering Pines Elementary schools.  Since that time over 500 teachers have been awarded this prestigious honor within the greater Boca Raton community.

Each year the Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise has recognized outstanding teachers from the current twenty-two public schools in the greater Boca Raton area.   The annual Gala attracts over two hundred guests who are treated to an exciting evening of cocktails, live music, honor guards, and a gourmet dinner. Each of the twenty-two teachers being honored are presented with awards, a video recap of their accomplishments and a keynote speaker to close out the evening.  

Over the years, the event has grown with a greater number of sponsors, underwriters, local and Congressional dignitaries, and guests.  It has attracted the attention of local media and is broadcast live on the Palm Beach County Education Network and through a link on Youtube.

This year the event was hosted at the Office Depot corporate headquarters.

About Office Depot

Office Depot, Inc. is a leading provider of office supplies, business products and services delivered through an omnichannel platform. The company had 2016 annual sales of approximately $11 billion, employed approximately 38,000 associates, and served consumers and businesses in North America and abroad with approximately 1,400 retail stores, award-winning e-commerce sites and a dedicated business-to-business sales organization – with a global network of wholly owned operations, franchisees, licensees and alliance partners. The company operates under several banner brands including Office Depot®, OfficeMax®, BizBox, CompuCom®, Complete Office and Grand&Toy®. The company’s portfolio of exclusive product brands include TUL®, Foray®, Brenton Studio®, Ativa®, WorkPro®, Realspace® and Highmark®.

At their Boca Raton headquarters, they employ about 2,000 associates from our local community and over the years have been very involved in community service. Recent examples include helping teachers and students in Palm Beach County by donating 42 pallets of surplus supplies to the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County Red Apple Supplies Store, partnering with the Boys and Girls Club of Palm Beach County over the holidays to collect more than 1,000 toys for children, and sponsoring and participating in the 2018 Komen South Florida Race for the Cure.

Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise

“Making a Difference” is the theme from Rotary International’s current President Ian Riseley, directed at all 1.2 million Rotarians across 33,000 clubs in 200 countries around the world!  the Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise is a 32-year old club in Boca Raton where they have always kept that theme in mind as they try and make a difference in the community and throughout the world. the Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise is a high energy group of men and women, professionals, business owners and retirees that are devoted to “Service Above Self”- the Rotary motto. the Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise undertakes service projects, social fellowship events as well as fundraising projects and try and have fun while doing them! 

Each year the Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise continues to make an investment in our children and educators of Boca Raton by awarding and honoring over 500 teachers from the twenty-two public elementary, middle and high schools in the greater Boca Raton area.   They also further support children and education by awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars from our Foundation for college scholarships for local students seeking degrees in education and who are attending our three colleges right here in Boca Raton – Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach State College and Lynn University.  

2018 Teacher of the Year Honored