Cumberland Trace Elementary School principal Mary Evans found her passion for children early on and hasn’t let go.

That passion to be an advocate for children has led the Warren County Elementary School administrator to be the recipient of the 2009 Administrator of the Year award. Evans received the award during the 40th annual Kentucky Association of School Administrators Summer Institute Wednesday through Friday at the Galt House Hotel & Suites in Louisville.

KASA’s Administrator of the Year Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding education leaders.

“This was a complete surprise ... a real surprise,” Evans said.

To be eligible for the award, an educator has to be a member of KASA for at least two consecutive years, including the current school year. Award recipients were selected by a statewide judging panel representative of all KASA members. The judging panel selected up to three individuals to receive this award - one school-level, one district-level and one other education agency level.

Award nominations had to be submitted by a KASA member on behalf of a fellow member on the official application form. Two letters of recommendation supporting the nomination had to accompany the application.

Evans said she had no idea about the award until she received it.

As with many awards, paperwork is sent to be filled out; however, this time around it was “nothing like that,” Evans said.

“I work with so many wonderful administrators,” she said. “I don’t know who nominated me.”

Evans has long been recognized throughout Kentucky as a leader in public education. In 2008, she received the Service and Advocacy Award from the Kentucky Association for Gifted Education. The awards were given during the KAGE annual conference in Lexington.

A native of Bowling Green, Mo., Evans earned her bachelor’s degree at Northeast Missouri State University - now Truman State University - and her master’s degree at the University of Missouri. She earned her doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Louisville.

Evans started as a third-grade teacher in the foothills of Missouri, teaching students in one of the first programs for gifted students in the state. She then moved to Columbia, Mo., where she taught students with disabilities, gifted students and both - “twice exceptional children.”

“One of the most important things teachers do is build relationships with children. Then find out what they know and what they’re ready to learn,” she said previously. “What I found were similarities. They all have needs that need to be met.”

Evans left Missouri for Bowling Green, Ky., after her husband came to work at Western Kentucky University. She also worked at the university as program coordinator for the Center for Gifted Studies. Here she implemented the Super Saturdays program. Evans also worked on a grant to implement multi-aged primary classes in all schools in Christian County.

In 1996 she became principal at Cumberland Trace Elementary, and has served in that capacity for 13 years. This upcoming school year will mark the beginning of 14 years as principal of the elementary school.

Under Evan’s principalship, the school and its teachers have received many accolades - Laura Sanders received the American Star of Teaching Award from the U.S. Department of Education in 2008 and Patrice McCrary was one of three teachers inducted into the inaugural class of the Louie B. Nunn Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame in 2008.

A four-time reward school for academic achievement, Cumberland Trace has been designated a KDE Pacesetter School. The school’s accountability index of 92.7 ranks third among 41 elementary schools in the region, and it has been designated a Model Site in Gifted and Talented Education by the Kentucky Department of Education.

“When you have the support of the school board members and the superintendent, it’s easy to be good,” Evans said. “I work with wonderful teachers and a community that values education, but it’s the kids. The children are why I do what I do. They make the job fun and my job easy.”