Lorna Bottger Award for Individual Excellence in Political Action

In 1968, speaking before a group of teachers, Senator Tom Eagleton looked out over the audience and stated, “I know only one teacher here and that’s Lorna Bottger from Paris, Missouri. Now, where were all of the rest of you during my campaign?”

That teacher was a charter member of MNEA. Lorna was at the forefront of political action for teachers and public education throughout her professional life. She was the “voice crying in the wilderness” for teachers and schoolchildren for years. In her half-century of political work, her impact was felt from the schoolhouse to the statehouse to the White House.

Upon her retirement from the Hazelwood School District, she said, “I find great satisfaction in leaving behind the best-trained, best-organized, hardest working, and most effective political workers anywhere.”

In tribute to Lorna’s long-time commitment to education and political involvement, the MNEA-PAC Executive Council created the Lorna Bottger Award. First awarded in 1975, this award is given by the MNEA-PAC Executive Council for individual excellence in political action.

Nomination Deadline: Feb. 15

Nomination Process: Submit nominations using the provided form to the MNEA president. Voting is by secret ballot, and the recipient is announced at the MNEA Spring Representative Assembly.

Nominations may be made by local associations or an active, reserve, student, retired, substitute, associate, or life member of MNEA. Members of the MNEA-PAC Executive Council are not eligible to receive the award while serving on the Council.

For more information, contact Lauren Vinson (lauren.vinson@mnea.org, (573) 644-9606).