NH Teacher of the Year wins school bus drag race

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, Sara Casassa, has one more achievement to add to her growing list of accolades. 

This past weekend, Casassa received the coveted trophy and bragging rights as the winner of the New Hampshire Lottery Educational Cup Challenge – an unforgettable extra credit assignment. 

At the New England Dragway in Epping, Casassa sat behind the wheel of a mini school bus on Saturday and raced Vermont’s Teacher of the Year, Karen McCalla. The pair of school buses raced on the quarter-mile drag strip, but Casassa put the pedal to the metal to win the sixth-annual event that raises awareness for the more than $2.3 billion and counting the New Hampshire Lottery has generated for education in the Granite State since its inception in 1964. 

“I was a little nervous, to be honest, but I knew I had to embrace this opportunity. I was relieved when it was done, and it turned out to be a really fun race,” said Casassa, a language arts teacher at Barnard School in South Hampton. “I was focused on driving as fast as I could, but once I hit the finish line, I realized that I had to actually figure out how to stop the bus. Many of my students were there lined up along the fence holding signs and cheering me on. It was fantastic.”