Pine City Teacher Ryan Larson is still in the running as the candidates for the Education Minnesota Teacher of the Year award gets smaller.
The decision was made by a panel of 24 community leaders who selected 36 teachers from the initial list of 135.
Larson was awarded the Minnesota Rural Education Association Educator in Excellence Award in October of last year for his work with the Dragon Academy - a program that teaches students subjects like math, english, and science through hands on projects.
According to Education Minnesota, the panel will reconvene in late March to review the semifinalist's portfolios and video submissions and narrow the field further from 36 to just 10 candidates.
The teacher of the year will be honored on May 3, 2020.
