Every spring, our building takes a moment to honor the extraordinary educators who make Deering High School a vibrant, supportive, and intellectually challenging place to learn. The annual Walter E. Russell Teacher Award is a uniquely meaningful honor because it is not decided by administrators or district officials. Instead, the recipient is nominated and selected entirely by their peers the fellow educators who watch them show up every day to champion our students, break down barriers, and actively drive our school community forward.

A Legacy of Excellence
The history of this award traces back to a critical time for public education in Maine. During the mid-1930s, our state faced a severe shortage of qualified, formally trained schoolteachers. Dr. Walter E. Russell, who served as the principal of the Gorham Normal School from 1906 to 1940, championed the professionalization of teaching, ensuring that public schools had a sustainable source of high-quality instructors.

When the Gorham Normal School eventually evolved to become the University of Southern Maine (USM), the university established the Walter E. Russell Chair in Philosophy and Education to keep his mission alive. A unique partnership was forged specifically with Deering High School to bridge higher education with the public school classroom. Today, the Russell Award honors Dr. Russell’s scholar-teacher ideal, recognizing those who treat education as an evolving, deeply impactful practice requiring constant reflection and a strong community presence.

Celebrating Our 2026 Winner: Mariela Jacome
Since stepping foot in Deering, Mariela has been a transformative culture shifter who consistently goes above and beyond to ensure every student feels supported, safe, and seen. From breaking down barriers for the soccer team and organizing inclusive sports days to leading the charge on critical ICE protocols when the district lagged, she has proven herself to be both a fearless advocate and a pillar of the school community. Her impact is felt through systemic leadership such as pushing administration for commitments and speaking at school board meetings regardless of her contract status and through deeply personal gestures, like launching a Portuguese emotional support group for boys or hand delivering multiple winter jacket options to a student in need on a single day's notice. Whether she is hosting multilingual ‘Know Your Rights’ sessions or facilitating specialized academic interventions, Mariela’s tireless effort creates an environment where students truly thrive, a fact made evident by the smiles on their faces whenever her name is mentioned.

Honoring Our 2026 Nominees and Runners-Up
The strength of Deering lies in the depth of our staff, and this year’s nominees represent an incredible cross-section of academic excellence and student support:

Jessica Bean: Jessica provides essential professional support and invaluable direction to both our school community and me personally, serving as a pillar of the daily operations at Deering. She masterfully balances high standards with a sincere, graceful approach toward students, ensuring they grasp their coursework while remaining deeply attentive to the overall pulse of the campus. Whether she is volunteering as a hall dean during her prep time, multitasking with ease to keep the hallways quiet and respectful, or checking in on colleagues on the third floor, Jessica consistently puts people first. Her ability to engage students with genuine conversation has earned her immense respect, and on a personal level, her mentorship and clarity in complex situations have been indispensable. Jessica’s loyalty to our school's success is profound, making her more than deserving of the Russell Award and the many accolades that recognize her significant, often understated contributions.

Kristin Leffler: Every time I speak to students who had Kristin for APHUG as 9th graders, or who have her for Global Issues and her new Journalism class, they talk about how engaging and empowering these classes are for them. I have seen students continue passionate discussions from her Global Issues class into my US History classes. They bring a lot of the skills and knowledge from APHUG as 9th graders and from Global Issues into my classroom and it enhances a lot of what I have planned. I love seeing students take current issues seriously and show an interest in how what they are learning in class connects to the world they are living in and I credit Kristin and the work she is doing a great deal for this. Also, the new Journalism class she is teaching is amazing and inspiring to me as an educator. It seems to be student-centered and student-driven. Many of the students I know who are taking this class speak highly of it and show a passion for the work they are doing in that class. Students are not only learning high journalistic standards and practices in that class, but they are applying it in real ways. These kinds of experiences are invaluable.

Molly Callaghan: Molly Callaghan is an innovative, passionate, and collaborative educator who is continually evolving her practice. In her role as Academic Language teacher, Molly holds her students to a high expectation, referring to them as "scholars"--even when they are struggling. She designs engaging instructional units reflective of current events, including such subjects as cell phone bans, voting rights, fast fashion, AI, and more. Molly is resourceful, using resources from the open web as well as from our databases to make sure she offers the best-quality material for students. To prepare students for these units, she immerses them in language, ensuring they have the vocabulary to comprehend assigned readings and express their own ideas about concepts. Furthermore, Molly collaborates and innovates, as seen in the podcasts her students have produced about these subjects. She does all of this while offering structured support to students hoping to stretch their literacy skills up to the next level. Finally, after each semester, Molly evaluates the success of these projects and makes improvements so that her next set of students have an even more positive experience. Molly Callaghan embodies the qualities of the Russell Award.

Susan Andersen: Susan is an incredible asset. She is always ready to lend a hand when needed, maintains a high level of professionalism, and remains deeply committed to meeting the needs of every student.

Lucy Sommo: Lucy is a teacher who works diligently to differentiate for her students language skills, pushes her students to achieve success, is creative in extended learning opportunities of cooking with students, leading kayaking trips, finding new texts that engage the students she has in her class, creating a safe space where students trust her and know that she is a safe place to share their goals/ ask for help/ knows she will advocate for them. She is so important to the ESOL team and our multilingual students and to our Deering community!

Dave Brooks: Dave is such an unsung hero of Deering High School. He teaches almost all 11th graders English, including both AP and college prep levels, which means that he is asked to write SO MANY letters of recommendation for college applications. Dave usually writes about 30 of these letters each year, while in the middle of teaching AP Lang, which is the most writing intensive course at Deering. All of this means that Dave is totally swamped throughout the first semester, and yet manages to guide his very full sections of AP Lang through a challenging but rewarding fall. In addition to working crazy hard on providing meaningful feedback on student writing at all levels, Dave introduces his students to truly novel and engaging ideas. Many students over the years have told me that they learned about new perspectives in Dave's class that they had never considered before. He's an excellent English teacher, and also a trusted adult for all kinds of students at school. Dave is a Celtics superfan on the outside, and a deeply thoughtful humanities teacher on the inside (he's also a Celtics superfan on the inside). He really deserves his flowers at Deering.

Carina Spiro: Carina models an exemplary teacher in every way. Students are learning and are enjoying their classes and have great respect for Carina. Carina uses a variety of teaching methods and involves students in their learning. Carina challenges all levels of abilities and makes accommodations for individual needs. Parents appreciate the effort Carina makes. Carina gets along with all staff. Carina helps with co-curricular activities. Carina works hard and is at DHS late almost every afternoon. Carina brings joy, kindness and academic discipline to Deering. Carina is an excellent teacher and we are blessed to have Carina at Deering.

Mary Nance: Ms. Nance incorporates creativity and engaging activities for her students, while presenting well organized lectures. Above all though, she is welcoming and embraces all of her students, while encouraging them to work to their full potential.

Please join us in thanking Mariela and all of our incredible nominees for their profound impact on our school culture and the lives of our students!