Rebecka Peterson, 2023 National Teacher of the Year
Rebecka Peterson, a high school math teacher, is the 2023 National Teacher of the Year. She has taught high school math classes ranging from intermediate algebra to advanced placement calculus for 11 years at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is passionate about making mathematics engaging, relevant and accessible to all students, no matter their background.
As National Teacher of the Year, Peterson plans to use her platform to highlight teachers’ stories of the good that’s happening in education. Peterson is a proud immigrant of Swedish-Iranian descent and lived in several countries around the world as her parents traveled as medical missionaries. Before joining the faculty at Union High School, Peterson taught for three years at the collegiate level. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Oklahoma Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of South Dakota. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband, Brett, and son, Jonas.