Spoto High's Cassandra Mattison Named Hillsborough Teacher of the Year

The Spoto High School community was set to congratulate Cassandra Mattison back at school today, the morning after she was named Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year, at a March 28 banquet hosted by the Hillsborough Education Foundation.

In accepting the award, Mattison "thanked the teachers at every school she has attended in Hillsborough County, starting with Shaw Elementary and ending with King High School," according to a Tampa Bay Times report on the event.

"I would not be standing where I am today if it were not for teachers like you," she reportedly told the audience of more than 2,000 educators.

Earlier this year at Spoto High, a "surprise patrol" alerted the 31-year-old English teacher, who serves as head of the English department, that she had been selected as a finalist for this year's coveted award. 

“I was the assistant principal for student affairs when she was a student at King High School,” said principal Phil Carr, as he led the Jan. 18 patrol to Mattison's classroom. “She was a gifted student then and she’s a gifted teacher now and the award is well-deserved.”

Down the hall from Mattison's classroom, her husband, Tim Mattison, teaches social studies. On Jan. 18, he gave his wife high marks.

“She’s awesome,” he said. “She works really hard, she’s dedicated and Spoto is blessed to have her as a teacher.”

What was his wife thinking when she received the TOY plaque, standing next to Ronald McDonald and representatives from the Hillsborough Education Foundation, her school and the Suncoast Federal Credit Union?

“I was thinking, ‘Wow,’ but I’m one person,” Mattison said at the time. “I represent this team here at Spoto High School and we all work so hard to make our students successful. It’s not something that I’ve done on my own. I’m just one person able to represent all that hard work.”

Mattison next will represent the county in statewide competition.

The winner there will advance to national competition.

Also named at the March 28 banquet were this year's Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year and the district's top instructional support employee. Receiving the honors, respectively, were Socorrito Claudio, who teaches language arts and social studies to special-needs students and English language learners at Wimauma Elementary School, and Maryann Bordonaro, a secretary at Essrig Elementary School in Carrollwood.

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RELATED COVERAGE:

• Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator Finalist Named at Progress Village Middle Magnet

• 2012-13 Teacher of the Year: A List of Finalist Contenders