PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Timber Lake High School math and science teacher LuAnn Lindskov has been named South Dakota's Teacher of the Year.

The announcement was made during a Thursday evening banquet in Oacoma.

Lindskov is a member of Black Hills State University's QuarkNet, a group of South Dakota science teachers who study subatomic physics and connect their students with physicists and students from around the world. In 2011 she attended a conference about advanced particle physics research at the FermiLab National Laboratory near Chicago.

State Education Secretary Melody Schopp says Lindskov is "connected and therefore keeps her students connected."

Lindskov wins $9,000 in cash and a $7,000 technology package to use in her classroom. She also is now a candidate for the National Teacher of the Year award. .

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