Highland native named Minnesota World Language Teacher of the Year

Highland native Grant J. Boulanger, a Spanish teacher at Skyview Middle School in the North St. Paul, Maplewood, Oakdale District (ISD 622), was recently selected as the recipient of the Minnesota World Language Teacher of the Year Award.

He is the husband of Shelley and father of Amaya and Alexander of St. Paul, Minn., and son of Jay and Cathy Boulanger of Highland.

The award is one of the organization’s highest awards, and it recognizes outstanding all-around work in the field of world languages and cultures education.

Boulanger will be recognized at the annual conference this month for the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures(MCTLC). The award represents the first step toward the National Teacher of the Year Award, sponsored by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College (B.A. 1997) and University of Minnesota (M.A.), he attended the University of Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain, for a year and studied in Germany for a year. Boulanger attended Highland Community Schools prior to going to college.

Numerous colleagues, parents and students submitted letters of support on his behalf.

Patty Phillips, former Superintendent of ISA 622, wrote: “Grant Boulanger lights up students’ minds and faces. It’s such a professional treat to observe him teaching, and I always leave his classroom feeling I’ve been to a very special place, a place where students are having so much fun they don’t realize they’re learning, as well as a place where doors are opened that will change the trajectory of their lives.”

Kay Edberg, MCTLC’s president, had this to say about Boulanger: “Grant embodies best practices in world language teaching; he believes all students can be successful language learners, he engages his students and pushes them to be the best they can be in the classroom. He is a truly deserving recipient of this award.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 5:08 AM with the headline "Highland native named Minnesota World Language Teacher of the Year."