Goessel art teacher Kacie Schmidt was named Kansas Art Education Association’s 2023 Outstanding K-12 Art Educator of the Year.

She received the award earlier this month at Emporia State University.

An art teacher for 10 years — all of them at Goessel — Schmidt coordinated the 2023 Wheat State League art contest, created the first Goessel Elementary art fair, and raised more than $4,000 through fundraising and auctions.

“She’s done a good job of things, and it essentially raises money for the art program,” Principal Scott Boden said.

Combination art pieces Schmidt makes from the work of several students bring high bids at elementary art auctions, Boden said.

The district hired Schmidt after another teacher, who had earlier accepted the position, had a last-minute change of plans, he recalled

“I called K-State and asked if they had anyone who was still interested in the position,” Boden said.

Schmidt, undecided among schools at that time, agreed to go to Goessel.

“There was a bit of luck there,” Boden said.

In 2021, Schmidt was recognized as a Teacher of Distinction for having more than 15 students selected for publication in a Celebrating Arts online competition.

As a working artist, Schmidt was accepted twice into the Kansas City Art Institute’s Educators Lab Summer Artist Residency. She designed and created several murals and created a logo for a church.

In 2022, she traveled to Lithuania on a mission trip with Tabor College. She taught art and English to refugees from Ukraine and Siberia.

Kansas Art Education Association is a statewide professional organization dedicated to growth and development of art educators and advancement of high quality art education.

Schmidt has a genuine love and appreciation for her students, her mentor teacher, Russel Pauls, said, and allows students to be themselves and create their own visions of their art projects.