Gwen Anne Thacker

Gwen Anne Thacker has demonstrated a life-long passion for providing service to youth through the many educational roles she has played – as a teacher, as a principal, and as an administrator. Mrs. Thacker has served in a variety of teaching and administrative positions in Elko County. Most recently, she returned to serve as principal at the school where she began her teaching career – Owyhee Combined Schools, a rural school located on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. She has been instrumental in developing a relationship with the Shoshone/Paiute Tribes, resulting in the creation of a community education center. Parents and community members use this center to access books, periodicals, interactive video instruction, and the Internet. Classes are offered via videoconference from a college that is about 100 miles from Owyhee. She has encouraged the community – where there is no public library – to become an active community of readers through her Reading Nights, and a book exchange. For the 2005-2006 school year, Owyhee High School was named a High Achieving School by the Nevada Department of Education in meeting Adequate Yearly Progress!

Photo by Susan Mantle Photography