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CHARLESTON -- A teacher from Hancock County has been named one of five finalists for the 2027 West Virginia Teacher of the Year award.
Morgan Bricker, an English and journalism teacher at Weir High School, was among the finalists announced Monday by the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Chamber Foundation.
The finalists were selected from 55 county nominees.
“It is often said that the teaching profession is the gateway to all other professions, and these finalists embody this in everything they do for students,” Michele L. Blatt, state superintendent of schools, said in the announcement. “Our public schools are full of educators who strive daily to ensure every student is preparing for a successful future. I am proud of them and these five educators who are ambassadors for our schools and advocates for the children of West Virginia.”
The 2027 West Virginia Teacher of the Year will be announced during the Champions of Learning Gala on Sept. 8 in Charleston.
Bricker is a 20-year teaching veteran who has established student media programs at three high schools. Since 2017, she has taught English 11, journalism, broadcasting, newspaper, yearbook and dual-credit media literacy at Weir High School.
She holds a permanent West Virginia professional teaching certificate in English and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Muskingum University with minors in psychology, speech communication and Spanish.
She also earned a Master of Arts in journalism and mass communication from Kent State University. Bricker is a certified journalism educator and master journalism educator through the Journalism Education Association.
In 2025, Bricker developed Hancock County Schools’ application to participate in the News Literacy Project District Fellowship Program and serves as its lead fellow. She is a PBS News Student Reporting Labs teacher ambassador, the West Virginia Journalism Education Association state director, a blog coordinator for the Journalism Education Association Scholastic Press Rights Committee and co-founder and president of the West Virginia Scholastic Media Association.
From 2021 to 2023, Bricker collaborated with the Student Press Law Center and state stakeholders to help enact West Virginia’s New Voices legislation. She also helped Weir High School earn the First Amendment Press Freedom Award in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The other finalists are Stefanie Cirilli of Elm Grove Elementary School in Ohio County, Heather Hartman of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, Nicole Mattingly of Clay-Battelle Middle/High School in Monongalia County and Laura Presley of Princeton Senior High School in Mercer County.
Since 1964, the West Virginia Teacher of the Year program has honored educators who go above and beyond to elevate the profession and positively shape the lives of students.
The state’s educator recognition program remains one of the largest and longest-running of its kind in the nation.