Hopkins High School agriscience teacher and FFA advisor Jessica Couch has won an Excellence in Education award from the Michigan Lottery.

Weekly award winners are given a plaque, a $500 cash prize and $500 grant for their classroom, school or school district. Another part of the honor is to be interviewed by Michigan State University basketball coach Tom Izzo.

The Michigan Lottery set up the Excellence in Education program in 2014 to honor outstanding public school educators across the state during the academic year.

Couch, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriscience from MSU, was described in her nomination as, “not only a teacher to her students, she is a role model. She has a way of inspiring each and every student she encounters. She always goes above and beyond her duties as a teacher. She doesn’t just teach. She touches each of her students’ lives.

“She pushes them to do the best that they can and to be the best they can be. While her students may feel like giving up on themselves at times, she never gives up on them.

The nomination went on to say that Couch “takes the extra time to help students gain leadership skills in many ways to go on in life and also develop knowledge in agriculture. She spends many late hours after school helping students prepare for contests, travels away from her family for days at a time for conventions and contests. She works hard to make sure her students are succeeding and doing their best. She doesn’t consider her students as students, she treats them as if they were her own kids.”

She has taught and been FFA advisor at Hopkins for 16 years.

The National FFA Organization was formerly known as Future Farmers of America.

PHOTOS: MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo interviews Jessica Couch.

Jessica Couch