Onamia educator is 2022 Minnesota Teacher of the Year

Lancaster’s first and only teaching job has been in her hometown, working with third and first-grade students over the last nine years. She says it is important to live in the town where she teaches so her students can see and identify her, the only BIPOC educator in her district, as a community leader.

“I want to give back to the community that once helped to set me up for success,” Lancaster said.

Lancaster believes in the power of relationships and helping her students establish an identity for themselves.

“As a teacher, I get to show my students that they can reach beyond whatever barriers they encounter,” Lancaster said. “I get to show them that beyond these barriers is an amazing person, a scholar, an athlete, someone looking to connect with their culture and find their true identity. I can supply and awaken the language, strategies, enthusiasm and joy that very well may have been inside them all along.”

“No matter the age of the students she is working with, Sarah displays an unrivaled amount of passion for student education and improvement,” Cynthia Martin, a fellow first-grade teacher at Onamia Elementary, said in a letter of recommendation for Lancaster. “Sarah is forever willing and open to acquiring new knowledge to help students in need of intervention or enrichment. Her breadth of knowledge in teaching methods is vast, and she is able to connect with students in so many effective ways.”

Lancaster has coached more than 20 seasons of both athletics and arts programs in Onamia, directing three of the annual high school musicals and volunteering with local youth groups as well as through her church. She currently serves as President of the Onamia Area Civic Association. Lancaster holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Cloud State University and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and design from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.