CHAMPION, Ohio – A Trumbull Career & Technical Center teacher is the Ohio Board of Education Teacher of the Year for District 9.

Kristofer Doran, an interactive multimedia teacher at TCTC, is among the 11 teachers recognized as State Board District Teachers of the Year.

Doran’s students have won numerous student safety campaign contests to bring in more than $30,000 in grants to purchase new equipment for their lab. Doran prepares his students with integrated work-based learning in his classroom, where students create a school show called TCTC Time. 

His classes also extend beyond the classroom, where students transfer their skills to work with businesses. His teaching philosophy is centered on giving students the choice to carve their own path by exploring various career options. 

Doran has a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications, with a minor in multimedia website design, from Youngstown State University. He also holds multiple Master of Education degrees in instructional technology, career and technical teacher education and digital science in cognition and communication from Kent State University. 

Doran serves as the Business Professionals of America adviser, where he oversees numerous national and state winners. Additionally, he has been serving as the Ohio BPA Region 11 Classroom Educators Advisory Representative since 2013.  

The cohort of recognized teachers will serve as ambassadors for public education and the teaching profession in Ohio. The next steps allow four of the 11 teachers to move to the final selection phase for the 2026 Ohio Teacher of the Year, who will represent Ohio teachers statewide and nationally during the next school year.

Since its inception in 1964, the Ohio Teacher of the Year program has identified exceptional teachers statewide to celebrate their work in and outside the classroom. The program’s mission is to provide opportunities for professional learning to exemplary teachers as leaders and advocates for public education.

Selected teachers move through two levels of recognition: the State Board District Teacher of the Year as a regional recognition and the Ohio Teacher of the Year as the state-level recognition.

District 9 includes Trumbull, Ashtabula, Portage, Stark and Lake counties, as well as part of Geauga County.