Gina Carter, a title reading and math teacher at Woodlawn Elementary, has won the 2025 Bobs Award from the Lawrence Schools Foundation.
The Bobs Award honors a teacher who demonstrates exceptional teaching, a strong commitment to education, and a student-centered approach that nurtures each child’s full potential with care, adaptability and professionalism.
The award is given out annually by the foundation and comes with a $10,000 check.
Students helped announce the surprise by shuffling into a morning all-school assembly before flipping over signs that revealed Carter’s name.
Carter’s jaw dropped as she was embraced by other teachers and made her way to the front of the gymnasium to accept the award.
“I don’t really come to a job every day,” Carter said. “I come to a place that I truly love.”
Dena Johnston, the executive director of the Lawrence Schools Foundation, spoke about Carter’s teaching and the classroom environment she creates.
Carter is also a resource for other teachers and offers them ideas and resources to help raise the level of instruction across the school.
Johnston said Carter was the definition of a lifelong learner and brings an innovative approach to the classroom that has helped students succeed.
“Their classroom is always a place for students to be seen, heard and valued,” Johnston said. “They bring a warmth and energy to students that makes learning engaging.”
The Bobs Award was created by a group of Lawrence business leaders who share the same first name of Bob. The benefactors choose to remain anonymous to focus attention on the award recipients. Friday’s award was the 28th annual presentation. Nominations for the Bobs Award may be submitted by students, staff, colleagues, alumni and community members, according to the nomination form; however, teachers may not nominate themselves.
Here’s a list of previous recipients of the Excellence in Teaching Award:
1997 – Val Howland (Broken Arrow Elementary School)
1998 – Gary Webber (Southwest Junior High School)
1999 – Sue Siegfried (Woodlawn Elementary School)
2000 – Dr. Victoria Beals (South Junior High School)
2001 – Pamela Bushouse (Free State High School)
2002 – Brian “Chip” Anderson (Lawrence High School)
2003 – Kathy Rathbun (Langston Hughes Elementary School)
2004 – Paula Barr (Hillcrest Elementary School)
2005 – Kathleen Wagner (West Junior High School)
2006 – Mary Chapman (Free State High School)
2007 – Sherry Vratil (Wakarusa Valley School)
2008 – Deb Engstrom (Lawrence High School)
2009 – Paulette Breithaupt (Sunset Hill Elementary School)
2010 – Christy Kelly (Cordley Elementary School)
2011 – Renee Babin (Schwegler Elementary School)
2012 – Michael Carriger (Lawrence High School)
2013 – Ryan McAdoo (Hillcrest Elementary School)
2014 – Jordan Rose (Free State High School)
2015 – Mike Jones and Rachel Dirks (Lawrence High School)
2016 – Scott Forkenbrock (Liberty Memorial Central Middle School)
2017 – Stu Strecker (Free State High School)
2018 – Michele Duncan (Sunset Hill Elementary School)
2019 – Susan Lomshek (Schwegler Elementary School)
2020 – Kaitlin Shulman (Quail Run Elementary School)
2021 – Susan Mička (Lawrence High School)
2022 – Sam Rabiola (Free State High School)
2023 – Valerie Schrag (Lawrence High School)
2024 – Brad Stoll (Lawrence High School)
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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