Sierra Atkins has brought her love for the Spanish language, Latin-American culture and teaching to students for more than two decades.
Her efforts have been recognized. In December, Atkins was named the 2026 Idaho Language Teacher of the Year. She received the award in her classroom on the last day of the fall semester.
The Spanish teacher at Les Bois Junior High in Boise was selected from five finalists – three of whom were in the Boise district.
Atkins believes she was set apart from the competition because she’s adaptive, cultural and she simply loves learning, speaking and teaching Spanish.
The longtime junior high teacher brings not only linguistic, but cultural knowledge to her classes: She was a high school exchange student in Costa Rica. She spent college semesters in the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Every class she teaches makes a new set of Mexican party banners which hang from the ceiling for the semester, giving every student a little piece of the classroom.
In 21 years of teaching Spanish, Atkins has worked through some changes to the way she’s expected to teach a language, and she’s happy to adapt.
“I’m not scared to step outside of [how] I’ve taught,” she said. Atkins likes to integrate new ideas into her teaching to provide students an authentic experience. “I’m good at adapting.”
Not only does she like teaching teens, she has shared her skills with student-teachers, welcoming at least seven — enough that she can’t quite remember how many.
“A lot of teachers don’t like sharing their classroom because they don’t like to give up control,” she said.
Atkins is a native of Bend, Ore., and a graduate of Boise State University. When she graduated after four years of studying Spanish, she didn’t know where to take her linguistic skills.
“I didn’t want to be a translator or go work in a hospital or something like that. But I had really phenomenal teachers in high school that just made me love it, I loved going to Spanish class,” said Atkins. “So I was like, ‘I’ll try this out.’”
Atkins attended Eastern Oregon University where she earned a graduate teaching degree.
She returned to Bend and student taught with her high school Spanish teacher and then got hired to teach Spanish at Les Bois. Besides a two-year hiatus at Boise High School, she’s spent her career at the junior high school – with students the same age she started learning Spanish.
“We get a fresh start every day,” Atkins said about her mindset for when teaching gets difficult.
“I just have so much fun teaching, and I think the kids see that I love my job.”
The award, presented by the Idaho Association of Teachers of Language and Culture, means Atkins will represent Idaho at the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages during April in Portland, Ore.
