Meet the Finalists for 2027 NH Teacher of the Year: Rebecca Fortgang, Katie McDonough, and Christa Powers

Every day a New Hampshire teacher makes a difference in the life of a child. Every year the New Hampshire Department of Education honors outstanding educators who make their communities, profession, and the world a better place.  

“New Hampshire is proud to celebrate three incredible educators who have been named Teacher of the Year finalists. These outstanding professionals embody educational excellence and reflect the very best of what our schools offer,” said Commissioner Caitlin D. Davis of the New Hampshire Department of Education in a May press release. “Their commitment to students makes a meaningful difference every day, helping young people realize their full potential.”

Two finalists for the 2027 NH Teacher of the Year are NEA-New Hampshire members: Rebecca Fortgang (EA of Pembroke) and Katie McDonough (Concord EA). The third finalist, Christa Powers, teachers at a private school, Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Recently, we sat down to talk all with all of them about their nomination, the experience, and their teaching philosophies.  

“There’s Cher, there’s Madonna, there’s Madame.” 

And Madame Rebecca Fortgang knew from a very young age she’d grow up to be a teacher. 

As she recalls, Rebecca used to set up her stuffed animals around the edge of the room and then stand in the middle of the room to teach them. Her grandmother was the principal who she’d send all the naughty stuffed animals to. 

In fourth grade, Rebecca’s teacher–Mrs. Sanguedolce at Inter-Lakes–allowed each student to conduct their own lesson. Rebecca taught her classmates about circumference by measuring different balls outside. After measuring the circumference, they played sports with those same balls. 

Rebecca has sixteen years of teaching under her belt having started in the classroom in the 2010-11 academic year–in the aftermath of the Great Recession. New Hampshire’s state budget was slashed by over $1 billion and Rebecca’s district, Manchester, also faced significant budget cuts that resulted in the elimination of 160 teachers. 

“If you haven’t been teaching quite that long, you missed that adventure,” Rebecca said.

The Great Recession also impacted Rebecca’s educational experience and educator training. 

“For the first seven years of my teaching career, I was the only French teacher that had never been to France,” she stated. 

Rebecca did her study abroad just over the border at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada. She wanted to be able to take kids to travel and knew many families might not be able to afford trips to Europe. Since then, she’s brought students back to Quebec for school trips in her previous positions at Bay Farm Montessori Academy in Massachusetts and Fall Mountain Regional High School. 

At Fall Mountain, Rebecca even became a bus driver so she could drive the little bus and school van to bring students to volunteer at events like Poutine Fest or on day trips to Montreal and Sherbrooke. 

In 2017, Rebecca travelled to France for the first time on her honeymoon. Now, she spends summers working at a month-long immersion program in France for students from across the United States. The program offers substantial scholarships to ensure all students have access to the opportunity–something Rebecca prioritizes in her own schools. At Fall Mountain, they raised $12,000 so the French Honor Society students could take summer learning trips, including a New England Franco Route tour in 2024 and a Greater Canada tour in 2025. Students traveled to Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal at no cost beyond food. 

This past April break, Rebecca stepped in to lead a Fall Mountain Spanish class trip to Panama to ensure students still had that opportunity despite changes to the Spanish teaching staff. 

“Even on my vacations, I’m going with kids and doing stuff educationally whether that be locally with my students or working nationwide with kids all over,” Rebecca gushed. “That’s just who I am–taking kids to travel and learn.”

While she may not have a bus or funding for trips at her new position at Pembroke Academy–yet–Rebecca is still finding creative ways for her students to “travel.” After a unit on sports and games in her European Cultures class this spring, her students visited a PE class to teach those activities. She’s also leaned into bringing guest speakers into the classroom to add real world connections. 

“I know that world language teachers are hustlers because our languages aren’t required to graduate,” said Rebecca, who is also the president of the New Hampshire Association of World Language Teachers. 

“I want language education–and all education–to be real, relatable, and an experience,” Rebecca shared, “If you talk to my students, they would say ‘Madame’s always giving us opportunities. If you choose to say yes, you’re definitely going to get somewhere with it.’”

Although Katie McDonough comes from a family of teachers, a career in education wasn’t at the forefront of her mind when she studied classical languages and civilizations in college. 

“I was so focused on how much I loved Latin; I don’t know if I was doing a ton of thinking in college about what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Katie remembered. 

Katie’s mom was an English teacher (and now serves on her community’s school board). Two of her brothers are teachers. And her dad made a career change to be a shop and auto teacher later in life. So, when someone sent her a part-time Latin teacher position opening at Concord High School, she jumped in. 

“I had a level of comfort entering the classroom because we’d always been around schools,” Katie said. “Once I started doing it, I realized it was really fun.”

Now in her thirteenth year in the district and teaching Latin at Rundlett Middle School, Katie’s guiding principal is “actually joy.” When she started teaching, she had a stricter and more traditional approach. But she’s found that providing them opportunities for play and games and arts and crafts enhances their learning.

“I want students to want to come to my class,” Katie said. 

While she recognizes that people may not have the fondest memories of their own Latin classes, she thinks world language is the perfect place to bring elements of fun into the classroom. As a student, Katie was hooked on Latin when she started reading Roman love poetry; as a teacher, she finds students are frequently hooked by Greek and Roman mythology. 

“Seeing how much my students love these stories gets me excited about them now,” Katie explained. 

In her current myth class, students are reading and writing Greek and Roman mythology plays. Recently, they read the story of Prometheus and his brother who, in Greek mythology, created all the living things on Earth from clay. To bring the lesson to life, during their “WIN” - or What I Need - enrichment block, Katie brought in air-dry clay so students could make their own creations from clay. 

While she’s honored to be recognized as a 2027 NH Teacher of the Year finalist, Katie says it also feels like a big responsibility because she wants to do justice to everyone in her department and school. 

“If I could have one thing, I would want every teacher to just be able to make it known all the work they’re helping to do to make the school a better place, to make education in New Hampshire better,” said Katie. 

Katie wishes sometimes that teachers walked around with shirts that list bullet points of all of the work they’re doing–inside and outside of the classroom. 

On her bullet point list? 

• Serving in the position of World Language Department Coordinator
• Working at both Rundlett Middle School and Concord High School
• Middle School Latin Club
• Field trips – including to the Currier Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• A birthday celebration for Rome with middle and high school students
• Receiving a Concord Trust Grant for a project called "Fluent in Flavor" to buy cooking equipment for her classroom 

“You’re not just getting somebody who’s teaching five classes; you’re getting someone who’s teaching five classes, taking students on a field trip, chaperoning prom, and working over the summer to develop curriculum,” Katie explained. “I want to make sure New Hampshire people know all the value they’re getting.”

Growing up in Manchester, Christa Powers had a stuffed animal classroom set up at her house, too. She got a chance to teach humans, as an assistant dance teacher to classes taught by her mom–who was also a kindergarten teacher. At the age of 15, she received permission from the state to start working at a childcare center. 

“I was always going to teach,” Christa explained. “Around middle school, I decided it was math. I ended up in a high school right out of college, and fell in love. That’s where my knack is.”

With fourteen years of experience, Christa now teaches math at Pinkerton Academy, where she also serves as a CTE math coach. 

Christa said, “My goals are to bring positive, fun energy. I just want my students to have a good time. I realize it’s not everybody’s dream class to attend, but if they can have a little fun and know that there’s a positive connection, I think that’s really important.”

When it comes to math, Christa shows her students lots of tools they can have in their toolbox for the future so to speak. What her students are really learning are problem-solving strategies. 

Those problem-solving strategies come to life in her work with the CTE department. For example, in math they learn about linear equations like y = mx + b. When she brought that into the construction class, they used linear equations to find the number of wall studs on a floor plan. 

“Seeing that natural connection sometimes helps our students a little bit more,” Christa explained.

Christa was nominated for the NH Teacher of the Year Award by an administrator at Pinkerton Academy and says it’s been a humbling experience for a person who is used to helping others without all the attention.  

The process for this nomination has required days out of schools and presentations. Christa has been open and honest about it with her students, who she says are getting to see a different version of “Mrs. Powers”. 

For the semifinals of the NH Teacher of the Year program, candidates had to deliver a TED Talk presentation. Christa practiced in front of her homeroom students because she knew if she could do it in front of them, she could do it in front of anybody.

“I think I do well in front of my students in my class…but I wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for the support of my colleagues and my administration and my family at home,” Christa said. “I’ve had so much support through this. I’m so honored, so grateful.” 

As a mom of three, Christa knows it takes a village to raise and educate children. She wants to be on the same page as their teachers, and she focuses on a whole team approach to her teaching, too. 

When it comes to communication, Christa makes sure parents, administrators, counselors, and case coordinators are all included. In addition, she makes sure to include the students themselves. 

“I try to address all communications I send out of my classroom to the students as they are about to become adults. It’s another way for them to learn how to take responsibility,” Christa explained. 

When asked what she wished people knew about the teaching profession, Christa said, "It’s a lot of work. We’re not just standing up in front of the board, giving students a paper every single day. There’s a lot more hats that we all wear.”

She extrapolated: “Teaching is a combination of a little bit of everything. You have to be able to be present. You have to be able to act. You’ve got to take your outside worries and put them aside and just be focused on the kids in front of you. You have to also be a leader to them, a role model. You have to be a protector if there are situations that come up. And then, while you have all those hats and all those jobs, you have to give them some content.”