Shyloh-Dawn Bonogofski talks to Chat News about her award win (photo courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chantal Wagner

Eagle Butte teacher wins North American award with the most votes

Jan 28, 2020 | 5:39 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A local teacher was successful in winning a North American award, following votes from the community last week.

Shyloh-Dawn Bonogofski found out on Monday night via Pear Deck’s Twitter account that she was the winner in the “Cultivating Compassion” category out of 5 finalists for the Peary Awards.

She was also the only Canadian to win the award. A second Canadian was nominated in a different category.

Bonogofski is an Inclusion Learning teacher and psychology teacher at Eagle Butte High School in Dunmore.

“The support from the community has been huge and I’ve had former students reaching out to me, parents reaching out to me and so I want to thank everyone for all their support and everything. I’m really excited and surprised and shocked, but it’s been really great.”

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Bonogofski has been a teacher since 2009 and teaching at Eagle Butte since 2010.

The school is expecting a Pear Deck trophy in the mail in the coming weeks.

Though her students are writing exams this week, she saw a few in the hallway who passed on their congratulations.

“I’ve had lots of students even though we’re in exams pop in and say congratulations and that they’ve voted for me. I’ve had a few send me messages and things like that so its been really great. They’ve been kind and awesome.”

She says one of her students from 11 years ago even commented on a Facebook post about the vote.

The window to vote was less than a week. It was announced on Wednesday, January 22 in the morning and closed Friday, January 24 in the evening.

Bonogofski thanks the community and everyone who voted, shared and commented on social media posts.