Kari Slaten said her current students are the “leaders of the future,” but those who are lucky enough to get to have her in class at Central Gwinnett High School are studying under one of the leaders of the present.

Slaten is the state’s 2020 History Teacher of the Year, the Georgia Department of Education announced Monday. The award is presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, an organization dedicated to K-12 American history education, with the state winner selected by the Georgia Department of Education.