The four finalists for 2027 Maine Teacher of the Year say that getting there takes a village.

It may be a cliche, but they all say it’s true: They couldn’t be the teachers they are without their support systems.

The finalists are Gretchen Livingston, a Spanish teacher at Cony Middle and High School in Augusta; Abigail McCoy, a science teacher at Lewiston High School; Gina Welch, a prekindergarten teacher in Bethel; and Adrianne Shetenhelm, an English and alternative education teacher at Windham High School.

They were nominated by their peers through the Maine Department of Education. All four finalists won the 2026 County Teacher of the Year, which entered them in the running for the state competition, which is decided based on keynote speeches, panel discussions, portfolios and site visits.

The winner of the 2027 Maine Teacher of the Year will be announced in mid-October.

Gretchen Livingston, Cony High School in AugustaGretchen Livingston, a middle and high school Spanish teacher at Cony High School, stands in front of the school Wednesday in Augusta. Livingston, a finalist for the Maine Teacher of the Year award, also is a high school field hockey and lacrosse coach. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image

Gretchen Livingston never thought that she’d be a teacher.

Livingston attended Tufts University near Boston and studied Spanish and Latin American studies, thinking she could become a translator.

Just two weeks after college, she was on a plane to Honduras, where she served for two years with the PeaceCorps — before an incident there changed the trajectory of her life. Rather than staying in the country like she intended, she came home to Maine, unsure of what to do next.

A job to teach Spanish and French at Gardiner Regional Middle School popped up. Even though she’s from a family of teachers, she had never considered teaching. Then she applied.

“I realized that it was what I was meant to do,” she said. “I fell in love with it.”

She landed at Cony High School in fall of 2003, where she’s taught ever since. Cony Middle School joined the high school in 2009, so in addition to high school Spanish, she teaches eighth grade Spanish.

Sometimes, she has students from eighth grade through to 12th grade, which she really enjoys.

She’s also the girls field hockey and lacrosse coach, as well as the Seal of Biliteracy coordinator, World Language Department chair and advisor for National Honor Society. 

“I can see their growth, their self-realizations,” she said of her students. “It motivates me to find ways to help them become the best versions of themselves in whatever they choose to focus on.”

Livingston also believes it’s important to listen to students and their needs.

In her teaching, Livingston likes to incorporate social and emotional learning to help her students be prepared, and ready to learn and participate in class. She uses techniques like EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping — a stress relief method similar to acupuncture where meridian points are tapped by fingers — to help her students literally “tap in.” She hopes it can give students a tool to use outside of the classroom.

She’s motivated by her students’ willingness to learn every day, she said. Every couple of years, Livingston brings a group of students on a service trip to Central America.

“The students taking the risk to learn Spanish, French, Japanese, to better understand people in our world and the focus on listening and elevating voices is what’s inspiring to me,” she said. “It’s so motivating to see those voices of the students in whatever language they speak, it’s allowed me to feel so passionate and engaged and motivated to keep up that work.”

Gina Welch, Crescent Park Elementary School in Bethel

Gina Welch is the type of prekindergarten teacher that her former students still visit for hugs.

In her 10th year at Crescent Park Elementary School in Bethel, part of Maine School Administrative District 44, the students from her first year teaching are now in eighth grade. 

She still knows their families, giving her a front row seat to watch them grow up.

“They just come and see me. It’s magic. It’s really special. I feel like we are all going to be gone from this earth one day and I feel like my kids will still remember me,” Welch said. 

Welch was not a child who knew from the beginning that she wanted to be a teacher, she said. 

She attended Dirigo High School in Dixfield. In her senior year, she joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Her “little brother” attended the elementary school and she loved the feeling of going to visit him in his “cozy” classroom filled with warm, friendly faces.

Because of her proximity, she went to the University of Maine at Farmington and enrolled in the early childhood development program. She admits she didn’t have a “big love” of teaching, but when she started the program, she got hooked. 

After graduation, she worked at an Early Head Start Program, a federal prekindergarten program, but 10 years ago, she joined MSAD 44, which she said changed the trajectory of her career. Welch credits the parents, students, administrators and colleagues in the school district in helping her “blossom, grow, make mistakes, and try again.”

“Because of this district, I got a teaching license, I got a master’s degree,” she said. “I’ve never been more fulfilled. State teacher of the year or not, this school is my home.”

Abby McCoy, Lewiston High SchoolAbby McCoy, a finalist for the Maine Teacher of the Year award, is seen Thursday at Lewiston High School, where she teaches chemistry and forensic science, and is the advisor of the Black Student Union. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)

Abby McCoy believes the secret to being a successful teacher is to make learning fun. 

When students at Lewiston High School take her class in their junior or senior year, sometimes she has to help students fall back in love with learning. 

So, the pink-haired chemistry teacher in brightly colored clothes incorporates a routine and characters into her lessons. She puts on game shows for her students to review before a test. 

“Sometimes they’re just tired. I feel like I can really bring (their love of learning) back, and chemistry isn’t something they experienced yet. They can use it to see the way the world works,” said McCoy. 

McCoy has taught at Lewiston High School for nine years. In addition to teaching chemistry, she teaches a forensic science course and helps run the school’s Black Student Union. 

Similar to the other finalists for the Maine Teacher of the Year, McCoy didn’t set out to be an educator. With her love of chemistry, she thought she might work in a lab, but it turned out it was isolating. Her college advisor recommended she look into teaching, so she took a job at a private school in Tennessee before moving back home to South Portland. She’s been in Lewiston ever since.

Since she started teaching in Lewiston, the number of students in a class has grown exponentially. She’s come to embrace it, especially when several students in her class who speak a different language can team up to help each other through language barriers.

And for her, being a teacher is more than just chemistry.

She’s not here just to teach atoms and molecules, she said, but to build relationships. She keeps snacks in her drawer for students who don’t have anything to eat. She has conversations with students on how to self-soothe, how to have effective learning strategies and how to try again after failing.

“The big thing to me is that everyone fails and everyone should fail. It’s important,” she said. “Kids get used to being in my room that it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Sometimes they’ll try something and they’ll get it wrong. We talked about it. Having those little things and having that trust and relationship building has gotten me far in my job.”

Adrianne Shetenhelm, Windham High School

Adrianne Shetenhelm, an English and alternative education teacher at Windham High School, is being honored for more than a decade of providing an alternative pathway for students who may struggle in the traditional education system.

Shetenhelm has 19 years of experience teaching English, including 11 years leading Windham High School’s Alternative Programming for Excellence, according to the Department of Education. The program provides struggling students with “self-paced, individualized learning pathways.”

Shetenhelm said the program was neither a special education program nor a behavior program, but was focused on providing a more personal learning environment for students who need it. These, she said, included new students, immigrants, homeless students in need of a safe place to do work, and students taking college courses looking for support at the high school level as they earn dual enrollment.

Shetenhelm teaches a small group English class, with other teachers in the program focusing on subjects such as math and science. She said a student may take multiple classes or just one, and the ultimate goal of the program was flexibility.

Shetenhelm said her favorite aspect of the program is the smaller class sizes, that allows her to get to know her students in a way that would not be possible in a larger classroom environment.

She also mentioned Windham High School’s Extended Learning Opportunities program, which she described as a form of independent study with a community mentor. She recalled connecting a student who wanted to become a tattoo artist with a program coordinator, and said the student is now a successful tattoo artist in Windham.

Another achievement of Shetenhelm and her colleagues was the creation of a mock CSI unit, where teachers work with law enforcement to teach students about crime scene investigation. The students work through a mock crime scene to solve and prosecute a crime. This form of interdisciplinary teaching, she said, has transformed the way she sees teaching.

“I am honored to be named a 2027 Maine Teacher of the Year state finalist, and it means the world to share this with the students, staff, and community of Windham High School who make my work possible,” Shetenhelm said in the news release.

Staff Writer Rory Sweeting contributed to this story.