Sarah Moonier has spent 23 years teaching science at Rockwood Summit High School. On Sunday, she earned the district's top teaching honor.

Moonier was named Rockwood School District's 2026-2027 Teacher of the Year at the 37th Annual ROSE Award Ceremony on May 3 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Chesterfield. More than 300 guests attended. The event also recognized 31 building-level Teachers of the Year, Cornerstone Award recipients, retirees, and 15 ROSE Award winners.

The environmental science and health sciences teacher starts each August the same way: she takes students outside to examine bright, colorful splotches on the side of a tree. At first, they're just spots. Then she teaches them to slow down, observe, ask questions, and design experiments.

"If you ask any of my students, they can tell you about the wonders of lichen," Moonier said in her acceptance remarks.

It's the second time Moonier has risen through the district's Teacher of the Year ranks. She won the building-level award at Summit in 2013-2014 and advanced to District High School Teacher of the Year that same cycle. This year, she won the building award again in February, was surprised in her classroom on April 8 by administrators and family members who named her District High School Teacher of the Year, and then took the overall district title Sunday.

Her family was in the room. Daughters Ally, a 2024 Summit graduate, and Katie, a current sophomore at the school, both attended. Katie helped present the building-level award back in February, picking out flowers for the occasion. When Moonier won that same award in 2014, Katie was five years old.

Grade-level Teachers of the Year were also honored Sunday: Katie Brown, a vocal music teacher at Ellisville Elementary, at the elementary level, and Jennifer Houchins, a vocal music teacher at LaSalle Springs Middle School, at the middle school level.

Rockwood Board of Education President Tamara Jo Rhomberg called it "a great afternoon of celebration and recognition" and thanked honorees for their daily contributions to the district's students.

Moonier is now eligible to compete at the regional and state level in the Missouri Teacher of the Year program, run by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. No timeline for that next step has been announced.