A middle school math teacher was selected from thousands of Virginia educators after receiving a special code through the Virginia Lottery’s Thank a Teacher campaign

HAMPTON, Va. — What started as a simple thank you note ended with a surprise celebration and a cash prize for a Hampton middle school teacher after he was selected as a grand prize winner in the Virginia Lottery’s Thank a Teacher campaign.

Parker Kiser, a math teacher at Cesar Tarrant Middle School in Hampton, was randomly selected to receive a $2,500 cash prize through the annual program.

In addition to Kiser’s award, Cesar Tarrant Middle School will receive a $2,500 credit for school supplies from program partner The Supply Room.

The Virginia Lottery said Kiser’s entry was chosen from thousands submitted by teachers across the Commonwealth who entered a prize drawing using a unique code included on Thank a Teacher notes.

Lottery officials and program partners surprised Kiser with the news during a presentation at the school on June 2.

The Thank a Teacher campaign is held each year in conjunction with National Teacher Appreciation Week and allows Virginians to send messages of appreciation to K-12 public school teachers throughout the state.

Each thank you note includes artwork created by Virginia students through the annual Thank a Teacher Art Contest and contains a code that teachers can use to enter prize drawings.

According to the Virginia Lottery, a record 225,650 thank you notes were delivered to teachers across Virginia this year.

Since the program launched in 2016, more than one million thank you notes have been sent to public school educators statewide, and more than two dozen teachers have received prizes through the initiative.

The program is a partnership between the Virginia Lottery, Brightstar Lottery, NeoPollard Interactive and The Supply Room.

The Virginia Lottery noted that all lottery profits support K-12 public education across the Commonwealth. Hampton City Schools received more than $24.7M in lottery funding for education during the last fiscal year.

Key Points

• Hampton teacher Parker Kiser won a $2,500 grand prize through the Virginia Lottery’s Thank a Teacher campaign.
• Cesar Tarrant Middle School will also receive a $2,500 school supply credit.
• More than 225,000 thank you notes were delivered to Virginia teachers this year.