An El Paso teacher is competing on the national stage, and she’s close to making a major move. But she needs El Paso in her corner.
Karen Gutierrez is currently sitting in 2nd place in her group in the America’s Favorite Teacher competition, a national contest that gives everyday educators the recognition they’ve always deserved. The top prize? $25,000, a trip to Hawaii, a feature in Reader’s Digest, and a school assembly with Bill Nye himself. Not bad for someone who just wants to help kids learn to read.
I know Karen from the El Paso literary community, where she reads poems about her experiences in teaching at the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series. Anyone who has heard her speak knows this is not someone going through the motions. The passion she has for her students comes through in everything she does, and her competition page is no different.
READ MORE: BARBED WIRE OPEN MIC IS THE PREMIER OPEN MIC IN EPÂ
When asked why she became a teacher, Gutierrez answered the way any poet would: with a poem. Her acrostic spells out exactly who she is:
To inspire young lives in ways that will last forever.
Empowering children to believe in themselves.
Always hoping to be the support I once needed.
Caring for every student who walks through my door.
Helping my students see their strength and endless potential.
Encouraging dreams that may have never felt possible.
Reaching every child with the promise that they matter, and they are never alone.
She also wrote about her most memorable moment in the classroom: helping a struggling student learn to read for the first time. “The day they read independently for the first time and realized they were capable was incredibly powerful,” she shared. “There is more to teaching than just academics. It’s about helping students discover their potential.”
Courtesy of Karen Gutierrez
Courtesy of Karen Gutierrez
And if she wins the $25,000? She’s putting it right back into her classroom: supplies, field trips, and resources focused on students’ social and emotional well-being. “Growing up, I didn’t always have the support I needed in school,” she wrote, “and those experiences shaped my desire to become a teacher.”
That’s the kind of energy El Paso needs repping us nationally.
Voting is free, you can cast one vote per day, and the window to push her into the Top 20 closes Thursday, March 26 at 7PM PDT. That’s not a lot of time. Head over to her page and vote: americasfavteacher.org/2026/karen-gutierrez
El Paso, let’s go.
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