Watch as crowd erupts for Tri-City educator named WA Teacher of the Year
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- Gabriela Whitemarsh named 2026 Washington Teacher of the Year in Olympia.
- Whitemarsh pioneered advanced math access for multilingual learners at Pasco High.
- Award positions Whitemarsh for 2026 National Teacher of the Year consideration.
Gabriela Whitemarsh was left nearly speechless at Saturday’s Educator Awards Ceremony in Olympia.
The Pasco High School bilingual math teacher had, after all, just been named 2026 Washington Teacher of the Year.
But after shaking the hand of Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal and taking to the podium, she paused, took a couple deep breaths and let the moment sink in.
She started out by thanking her distinguished teaching and classified colleagues from around the state who were on stage to receive similar kudos from Washington OSPI.
“These incredible people — I’ve known you guys less than 48 hours, and I’m so inspired by what you do every day,” she said. “The things you do that nobody asks you to do, and you still do it because you love and you care.”
“Every single person here deserves to be here — to be here,” Whitemarsh says, pointing to the podium, “and so I just hope that I am able to represent all of you well. I promise to do it with honor, with dignity, with integrity and with authenticity.”
Whitemarsh is the second-ever Tri-City educator to earn the distinguished title of Washington State Educator of the Year, and the first since 2018 to be from Eastern Washington.
The chance to participate in the program has been “life changing and incredible,” she says.
The honor also puts her in the running for 2026 National Teacher of the Year, a trophy no Tri-Cities teacher has ever won.
Whitemarsh went on to thank Pasco High School Principal Veronica Machado, Pasco School District Superintendent Michelle Whitney, her family, her husband — also a fellow teacher — as well as her students.
Her colleagues have described her as a trailblazer and someone who has transformed the lives of her students through “innovation, compassion and dedication.”
Her marquee effort has been expanding college-level math classes to English-language learners. The Tri-City Crystal Apple Award winner founded the Highly Capable Advanced Multilingual Mathematics Program at Pasco High in 2018, which opened the door for more students to take college-level math classes.
“There was a point at which I thought you weren’t going to get up, and I thought your children were going to rush the stage and we were going to have to deal with that,” Reykdal said to an auditorium full of laughs.
Her full speech can be watched online at tvw.org.
