SANDPOINT — Northside sixth-grade teacher Kailey Moser has been nominated for Reader’s Digest’s America’s Favorite Teacher Award. 

Moser said she threw her own hat in the ring after a friend sent her the link for the award and has been floored by the community’s support. In the competition, Moser made it to the group stage, and if she can tally enough votes by Sunday, April 26, she’ll become a quarterfinalist against teachers from across the nation. 

“My elementary students aren't voting, but their parents have been really supportive and just kind of checking in all the time and seeing what else they can do,” Moser said.  "It's been really cool to see the excitement and how it's kind of become a whole community process.” 

A longtime teacher at Northside, Moser said she has always tried to build relationships with her students, getting to know the things they do outside of class, like athletics. She said she taught much of her class in third grade, and that has helped her build more connections with them. 

“The biggest part of my teaching is building those relationships with students and their families too... letting them be their people whenever they can in the classroom, and incorporating that into lessons,” Moser said. “It's really fun to see how much they've grown in three years.” 

If Moser wins the competition, she’ll receive $25,000, a trip to Hawaii, a feature in the Reader’s Digest magazine and Bill Nye, the Science Guy, will host an assembly at Northside in addition to the honor. Residents can vote for Moser at americasfavteacher.org once daily by registering their Facebook account to the website.