Lebanon Community School Corporation chooses a new Distinguished Educator Award recipient for each of the schools in the district every year. Last year, LHS’ Distinguished Educator Award was earned by Mr. Joshua DeBard, who ended up finishing as one the Top 3 teachers in the state. LHSs’ Distinguished Educator Award for the 2022-2023 school year goes to, Mr. Joris.

Mr. Joris has been a teacher for 19 years, all of them being at LHS.

Sam Kyker, who has been a student of Mr. Joris’ said, “Mr. Joris is a funny and hardworking teacher. He makes sure everyone is able to learn in his classroom and he can light up the room with a quick joke.”

Kyker is also a member of our decorated DECA team, which Mr. Joris is the advisor of. Of 26 students that competed at DECA state, our program was fortunate enough to be able to send 8 of them to internationals.

English teacher, Mrs. Carol Kazmierczak said, “He is a very dedicated educator who always puts students first, and he is always willing to lend a hand to his colleagues.”

And Senior Gavin Haines has seen Mr. Joris lending a hand to some of his teachers. Last year, if now retired Mr. Greg Hudspeth was out of the building, and had a substitute, Mr. Joris would occasionally come in and make sure everything was going well.