ST. GEORGE — Surprise lit up the face of second grade teacher Lisa Svedin when a crowd of people, cameras and Marty Lane and Amy Chesley from the KONY Country morning show walked into her classroom at Sunset Elementary School Monday morning.

She was equally surprised when Tyler Wittwer, director of marketing for Boulevard Home Furnishings, announced that she had been nominated favorite local teacher and handed her a $500 gift certificate to Boulevard Home Furnishings and a voucher for a new Bosch dishwasher.

This year marks the 30th year local furniture store Boulevard Home Furnishings has contributed a portion of the proceeds from its annual Labor Day Sale to local schools. Over the years the store has donated over $900,000 and decided to give a little extra this time by asking community members to nominate their favorite teacher to win.

Read more: Boulevard Home Furnishings encourages local students to nominate their favorite teacher for a prize

“They support our kids, they teach our kids and create that base in the community,” Wittwer said. “That’s just awesome and we strive to truly support those who help make the community strong.”

Marsha Anderson nominated Svedin because even now that her son is in sixth grade, he still talks about her as his favorite teacher.

“I always hear your name. I always see how amazing you do with all the other students, not just mine, and I just want to thank you,” Anderson told Svedin.

Svedin has been a teacher at Sunset Elementary School for 13 years.

“I’m very surprised to be acknowledged as a great teacher, but really it’s all for the kids,” she said.

Mark Zwahlen, fifth grade teacher at Coral Canyon Elementary School, was busy working in the back of his classroom when one of his students pointed out a group outside the door.

Zwahlen, or “Mr. Z,” won the second place prize of a Carnival Cruise voucher for two and a $150 gift certificate to Boulevard Home Furnishings after he was nominated as a favorite teacher by Natalie Metzger, a former coworker and close friend.

“When he teaches kids to learn he really gets to the heart of it, they really want to learn from him,” Metzger said. “He really gets the kids.”  

Zwahlen has been teaching for six years and has been at Coral Canyon Elementary for two. He is known for his fun teaching methods such as wearing costumes to excite his students about history.

“I love teaching. It’s a lot of fun and I really am excited to make sure kids love to learn,” Zwahlen said. “Because if they don’t love to learn then learning is not going to happen,”

Boulevard Home Furnishings partnered with 99.9 KONY Country to spread the news about the teacher nominations, and Chesley and Lane joined them to meet the teachers and their students.

“I think teachers are underappreciated, so this is nice just to give back to our community and our teachers and let them know that they are important,” Chesley said.

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