Foreign Language Teacher Margarita Morell was recently awarded the prestigious Educator of the Year Award by Operation Smile. The ceremony took place during the International Student Leadership Conference in Denver, Colorado on August 4, 2010. More than 400 high school and college students and teachers from 12 different countries, including Ireland, Dominican Republic, Honduras, China, Paraguay, Japan, Panama, United States, Morocco, and Egypt attended the conference.

Morell has been an active Operation Smile club sponsor for four years. During the 2009-2010 school year, the club raised more than $6,000 with the help of Gulliver students, teachers, and administrators. Her first mission took place last March in Egypt and plans to attend her next mission during Spring Break and will be celebrating Operation Smile’s 20th anniversary in China in July 2011 and Panama City in December 2011.

“I am very grateful for all the support the school has provided me but this is not about me or the rest of us. It is about all the kids all over the world who need their lives changed. It is about a surgery that costs $240 dollars and at most takes 45 minutes,” says Morell.

The Educator of the Year award is given to an educator who has devoted his or her time, effort, and knowledge to supporting Operation Smile by spreading awareness and aiding an Operation Smile Student Club. The recipient should be an enthusiastic, ambitious, and caring individual who has contributed infinite resources to Operation Smile and to his or her students.