The Department of South Dakota Veterans of Foreign Wars and its Auxiliary are proud to announce that Susan Farrell-Poncelet, middle and high school English teacher at Sanborn Central, has won the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) National Citizenship Education Teacher Award for the 2023-24 Command Year in South Dakota.

This award is given to the teacher who best promotes civic responsiblity, flag etiquette and patriotism.

Each year, the Veterans of Foreign Wars selects elementary, middle and high school teachers to participate in the Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher program. VFW Post Teacher Award Chairpersons may submit one candidate in each grade level to their District. The Department then selects a single candidate in each grade level and submits them to VFW National Headquarters for national judging. Department Teacher winners that are received at National Headquarters receive a VFW National citation for both the winning teacher and their school.

According to Corey Flatten, superintendent at Sanborn Central, “[Susan Farrell-Poncelet] has always been an A+ teacher in our books, wearing many hats, but she has won this award because of her abilities as a teacher to change society one day and one student at a time.”

Farrell-Poncelet has been invited to the awards program in Pierre on Jan. 21-22 where winners of Voice of Democracy, Patriot’s Pen, and Teacher of the Year will receive their awards.