Colleen Reynolds Norwood Teacher of the Year

The Norwood Orient Lodge of Masons met with about 100 residents on Friday for the annual Teacher of the Year Awards Ceremony and dinner, and named Willett teacher Colleen Reynolds as the 2026 recipient.

“Thank you to the Orient Lodge for doing this every year,” she said.

Most if not all of the candidates and their families were in attendance, and Reynolds touched on the fact that every teacher is a person and an individual. She alluded to the current budget shortfall the Town is facing, and the fact that positions like police, fire, town staff and teachers are all potentially on the block if the Town votes for an expected operational override next year.

“Everyone in this room knows that teaching can feel like a grind on a lot of days, and sometimes people don’t see what we’re doing. Sometimes they only see FTE (full-time equivalent, a budgetary term) or they just see your name on a list, but you are school. We are school.”

Reynolds reflected on her time as a teacher at the Willett Early Education Center, a central kindergarten for all youngsters in Town. Under the recent redistricting plan, the Willett will become a K-4 school, like every other elementary school.

“This year the Willett is changing personality and coming to an end, so it feels especially meaningful to get this award this year,” she said. “I am so grateful for my Willett team. I’m looking at my husband, my life partner, and Alyssa, my teacher partner, and I can’t imagine what things are going to be like. But I know, the thing about teachers is, we figure it out. When things are hard, we figure it out, when things are dark, we make it light. I love this event. Thank you to the Masons, that you appreciate us. We love coming here. I always find us in very good company.”

Reynolds signed off with a positive note for the other educators in the room.

“You’re all amazing, we’re amazing, congratulations to everybody,” she said.

Lodge Member and 2007 Teacher of the Year Sean Richardson introduced Reynolds, and said in his 30th year of teaching, he’s now facing some sobering realities, one of which being his realization of 30 years in the education field, “Because a few of my students were nominated!” he said with a laugh.

He said when he first started, he thought imparting knowledge and facts was the end-all goal of education.

“And after been in education for two or three decades, I realize that’s not the case; I realized that the most important thing, in my opinion, we impart is hope,” he said. “Immediate hope, for some students who are coming from homes where there is no hope, and in my current situation I work with adults who are on federal and state parole as part of a team to keep them out of prison.”

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Richardson said he’s realized whether the student is 13 or 30, education only works if there is hope for the future.

“There is a quote that I’ve held near and dear to my heart for many years, by Alan Bloom,” he said. “He said education is the movement from darkness to light. I think a lot of us realized how important that is. It’s important for us here at the Mason’s Lodge, but for education, in addition to imparting knowledge, you need hope. Because there is not a lot of hope for a lot of people in the world today. One of the great things about teaching is we can do that each and every day that we step into our classrooms.”

Richardson said to the teachers in the room that every small step matters.

“You are going far beyond the classroom, you are crafting confidence, curiosity and character in ways that will echo for years to come,” he said. “My advice is simple: hold on to what brought you here: stay curious, stay compassionate, and when the work feels heavy, remember, the smallest moments often leave the biggest marks. Congratulations, this honor is well deserved, and your influence is immeasurable.”