SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- A kindergarten teacher at Volga's Sioux Valley Elementary School (SVES) has been named the 2025 Teacher of the Year, according to a Department of Education (DOE) press release on Thursday. At a banquet held Thursday evening in Fort Pierre, Secretary of Education, Joseph Graves, announced Amy Verhelst as the recipient of the award. Verhelst has been teaching at SVES since 2018 and gives instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness which helps her young students develop into readers before they finish kindergarten. Brandon Valley penny drive benefits HS senior “Kindergarten is that beginning stage where I get to give them their first exposure to school, that first experience, and it’s like a whole new world for them,” said Verhelst as stated in the DOE press release. Verhelst is a graduate of SDSU and has been teaching since 2014. She also taught in the Brandon Valley School District and Brownsburg, Indiana School District before arriving at the elementary school in Volga . Representing South Dakota, Verhelst will be a candidate for the 2025 National Teacher of the Year award, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. next spring.