Whitehorse educator is SJSD Teacher of the Year

Robert Sanders, an industrial arts teacher at Whitehorse High School, is the 2012 Teacher of the Year for the San Juan School District.
Sanders was honored for his 32 years of teaching at Whitehorse. He now moves on to the Utah Teacher of the Year competition.
Each year, a teacher and an employee is recognized from each school in the district.
Honored employees from Tse’bii’nidzisgai Elementary School are Camille Rowley and Clarke Holliday. Marla Atkinson, who is currently serving as principal at TES, was honored for her work at the district office.
Monument Valley High workers who were honord include Devon Gosney and Charlene Valentine Atine.
Employees who were honored from the Blanding schools include Patricia Helquist and Susan Lee at Blanding Elementary, Richard Monson and Anne Winder from ARL Middle School, and Kari Pugh and Ted Palmer from San Juan High.
Honored from the northern schools are Wayne Erickson and Rhonda Clark from Monticello High, Regan McDaniel and Becky Bird from Monticello Elementary, and Chris Allen and Amber Beshoner from La Sal.
Employees from the Bluff School who were honored are Tanya Nees and Shawnmarie Powell.
School employees from the Montezuma Creek include Sanders and Gail Lee from Whitehorse High, and Anna Mae Jim and Juanita Becenti from Montezuma Creek Elementary.
Gary Rock and Elsie Jones were honored for their work at Navajo Mountain High School
Robert Sanders was born Los Angeles, CA and graduated from Garden Grove High School in 1973.  He attended Southern Utah University, where he graduated in 1977 with a degree in Industrial Technology.  
Mr. Sanders received a Masters degree in Technology Education from Northern Arizona University in 1988.  He started teaching at Whitehorse High School in 1980 and lived in Montezuma Creek from 1980 to 1986.  
He and is wife, the former Miss Leslie Malzhan, live in Blanding. They have three children: Jennifer, Robert and Paul.