COLLEGE PARK — Centreville Middle School teacher Thomas Hayman of Chestertown is a 2025 National History Day Teacher of the Year nominee.
National History Day staff worked with local program staff to select up to one middle school teacher and one high school teacher to represent each affiliate for this award.
In addition to celebrating outstanding history scholarship and innovative classroom instruction, the 2025 Teachers of the Year will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
According to a news release, each of this year’s 71 nominees is a teacher who demonstrates a commitment to engaging students in historical learning through the innovative use of primary sources, implementation of active learning strategies to foster historical thinking skills and participation in the National History Day Contest.
Hayman, who grew up in Chestertown, is a graduate of Kent County High School and Washington College.
He has been teaching in Queen Anne’s schools for more than 15 years, and was one of five finalists in 2022 for Queen Anne’s County Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year.
He is a past president of the Chestertown Tea Party Festival.
A nominee in the junior division, Hayman is the only National History Day Teacher of the Year nominee from Maryland.
“At a time when history education programs are facing funding cuts and increased scrutiny, these teachers are in the trenches, teaching students about important historical events and engaging them with primary sources from local libraries and archives. I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s nominees,” NHD Executive Director Cathy Gorn said in the news release.
One national winner in the junior division and one national winner in the senior division will be selected by a committee of historians and experienced teachers, and announced on June 12 at the National History Day national contest awards ceremony in College Park. The awards ceremony will begin around 9 a.m. and will be livestreamed at nhd.org/awards-ceremony.
