By Will Tuell

Washington Academy’s Colleen Maker is, to use a basketball analogy, through to the ‘Final Four’ of the competition to become Maine’s 2024 Teacher of the Year, and though the 2023 Washington County Teacher of the Year is up against some stiff competition for the state title, Maker has gone about her business – educating children instead of icing three-pointers with no time left on the clock – with a clarity of purpose that makes her a strong contender for the title in her own right.