Washington Middle School teacher Linda Hougas recently received the 2014 Educator of Excellence Award presented by the Nicolet Oconto Retired Teachers Association. Hougas was chosen for the award by the teachers in the Oconto Falls School District.
Hougas attended the University of Wisconsin-Barron County Center for two years, planning to major in business education. She worked for a credit bureau and collection agency, while her husband, Gary, was attending UW-Stout for industrial arts. This led him to his first teaching position in Gillett, where Linda was employed as a teacher’s aid for the Title I program for seven years. Her boss was Frank Kaczmarzak, who encouraged her to return to school to earn a teaching degree. She did, graduating from UW-Green Bay in 1987.
Hougas was a substitute teacher for one year before she was hired by Tom Lutz to teach sixth grade in Abrams. Four years later, John Makuck asked Hougas to become part of the Washington Middle School staff in Oconto Falls. There she taught English for one year before landing a position as a sixth-grade math teacher. She spent the next 20 years teaching math and working with a team of sixth-grade teachers.
“My years with the sixth-grade middle school staff and students have been great. I couldn’t have had a better team with which to work,” Hougas said.
Hougas and her husband have two daughters, Myriah and Mandy. Myriah is married to Josh Farrell, and they live with their three children in Kaukauna. Myriah and Josh are employed by U.S. Venture/U.S. Oil.
Mandy lives in Watertown, Massachusetts, and works in sales for CADD Edge near Boston.
Hougas and her husband love to be outdoors to fish, ride ATVs and camp. She hopes to retire in a couple of years to free up time to visit her grandchildren and travel.
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