Megan Allen felt honored when she was named Hillsborough County's Teacher of the Year in February.
On Thursday, Allen was in disbelief after she was recognized as the state's best in a ceremony at Universal Studios in Orlando.
A teary Allen thanked her family, friends, co-workers and students after being announced as the winner. In videos shown earlier in the evening profiling each finalist, she said she was on a different career path but decided to become a teacher after her mother died of pancreatic cancer.
"I decided to follow in my mom's footsteps," Allen said. "I get so much joy out of being a teacher. I learn so much from my students every day."
Allen, a fourth-grade teacher at Cleveland Elementary School in Tampa, was among five finalists for the Florida Department of Education/Macy's 2010 Teacher of the Year award.
Along with the award, she received $10,000, a $1,000 wardrobe, a $1,000 check for her school and an all-expenses-paid trip for four to New York City to attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
When Allen was named Hillsborough's teacher of the year in February, she got a limousine ride to school, a four-day Bahamas trip, thousands in education scholarships and a yearlong lease of a Lexus.
The state Teacher of the Year is chosen from more than 180,000 public school teachers throughout the state by a Department of Education-appointed selection committee.
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