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Arvest Bank announced on Monday that Suzy Mattke has been awarded a $500 prize as part of its “We Love Teachers” campaign. A total of 154 awards, totaling $77,000, are being given this year throughout Arvest’s footprint.

Mattke, who teaches 6th grade English and Language Arts at Central Middle School, plans to use her prize money for “a little bit of fun, a little bit of necessity, and a way to make sure the impact of the money can impact not just the students who are in my classroom right now, but also the future students who will be there.”

“This is such an unbelievable gift for me, for our school, and for the students who are going to be directly impacted,” Mattke said. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this act of support for our schools. My classes have been so excited and have been talking all week about how we will spend the money. Arvest's support of our schools holds true with one of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelo, ‘When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.’ Thank you, Arvest, for giving cheerfully and I accept gratefully so everyone's futures can be blessed.”

The Arvest initiative to honor educators was launched on Sept. 13. Nominations were accepted via the Arvest Bank Facebook page. The nomination comment submitted for Ms. Mattke said, “Ms. Mattke has worked (at Central) for 20 years! She (stays late) daily preparing lessons, grading, and helping colleagues. She holds high expectations for her students, but also makes sure each feels genuinely loved and cared for. She is amazing!”

“Arvest is thrilled to recognize Ms. Mattke in this way,” Arvest Bank marketing manager Stevie Williams said. “Teachers need our support now more than ever. It was so rewarding to present this award in Ms. Mattke’s class and see how excited her students were for Ms. Mattke to receive this recognition. We hope this prize shows how much she is appreciated.”

“In addition, we would like to salute all the hard-working teachers everywhere. Our goal at Arvest is to help make our communities a better place, and one way we can do this is by supporting teachers, who work to enrich the lives of their students on a daily basis, making a lasting impact.”