Making the grade

The license plate on Georgette Hackman’s Beetle proclaims her affection for President Abraham Lincoln. LNP/Richard Hertzler

Cocalico Middle School teacher among 11 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year finalists

Cocalico Middle School teacher Georgette Hackman has been named a Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year finalist.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced the list of finalists Thursday. Hackman, the lone finalist from Lancaster County, is joined by 11 other exceptional teachers across the commonwealth.

They were nominated by students, parents, colleagues and members of the community.

“Teachers spend their lives educating, empowering, listening, mentoring, guiding, inspiring, serving and supporting each of their students,” Wolf said in a statement. “I applaud each of these educators for their hard work and for earning this important recognition.”

Hackman, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Cocalico Middle School and self-proclaimed “history geek,” is a Revolutionary War buff and Abraham Lincoln admirer. Attached to the back of her yellow Volkswagen Beetle is a license plate emblazoned with the words “LOVE ABE.”

She was a fifth-grade teacher at Denver Elementary School until being hired at the middle school in 2015.

The 2018 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year will be announced in December at the state Education Department’s annual professional development conference in Hershey.