Teacher Appreciation Week: Catching up with March 2026 Pay Tribute to a Teacher winner

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, so we’re checking in with some past winners of the KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos Pay Tribute to a Teacher award.

MESA – Jean-Pierre Thompson, who teaches fourth grade at Field Elementary School in Mesa, was the March 2026 recipient of the Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos Pay Tribute to a Teacher award.

The monthly award, which is sponsored by Your Valley Toyota Dealers, comes with a $2,500 prize.

Thompson said he spent part of the money on essential classroom supplies.

“We get a limited budget for school. It used to be much bigger. So, I was out of markers. I mean, I have nightmares I’ll always run out of markers and little erasers that we have for the kids,” he said.

Thompson added that he plans to use some of the money to help pay for an upcoming class field trip to the Grand Canyon, which some families can’t afford.

The mother of a student who had a life-threatening brain injury and learning challenges nominated Thompson for the award. She highlighted how he helped her daughter, Evie, earn two A’s.

When Thompson received the award from Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos, he said he tries to teach every student the same way he’d want a teacher to treat his own kids.

“This is my passion,” he said at the time. “If I can have an impact on someone’s life, such as Evie, then that, just, you can’t put it into words.”

As he nears the end of his 22nd year teaching, Thompson said being recognized made him realize the impact he’s had.

“Sometimes you wonder, am I making a difference? And then when you get an award for something like that, you’re like, I am making a difference, you know,” he said.

Want to nominate somebody for the Pay Tribute to a Teacher award? Submissions are accepted here.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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