FARMINGTON – Two SAD 9 teachers say they are proud of their former student, Heather Hurst, who was named a MacArthur fellow this week. They’re also honored that Hurst remembered them and credited them with inspiring her.

Hurst credited two former Mt. Blue High School teachers – Carol Perez, who taught her Spanish, which led her to explorations of Latin America, and Roger Bisaillon, who taught her art and encouraged her to expand her affinity for the visual arts – for the inspiration that landed her such recognition.

Hurst, 29, a graduate of Mt. Blue High School, is an an archaeological artist and illustrator. The honor from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation comes with a $500,000 grant, which she can use to do what she chooses.

“She is a very interesting person,” Bisaillon said of Hurst. “I think it’s great she has global focus even though she comes out of a small town.”

She helped spread the word that art is cool, he said.

Bisaillon said he helped Hurst get her portfolio together for college. He said Hurst has good basics in art and academic excellence.

“Heather is an awesome student,” Bisaillon said.

Hurst has had some of her recreations of ancient paintings and drawings exhibited in museums and published in National Geographic.

“She practices what she preaches and it’s nice to see a young lady that actually does that,” Bisaillon said. “I really mean that. … I’m really proud of Heather.”

Perez, now a foreign language teacher at the elementary level in SAD 9, said, “It’s an incredible honor to be remembered by a student. Heather was an excellent student.”

When Cheryl Pike, principal of Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon, congratulated Perez on Tuesday, Perez said she had a warm feeling come over her.

“It was a very, wonderful, warm feeling,” she said, to know that teachers have a far-reaching effect on their students.

Perez said she tries to make her students understand that they could use foreign language in a variety of ways, including using it in their jobs traveling to foreign countries.

Perez said Hurst told her she wouldn’t have gotten some of her jobs without knowing Spanish.

“It is great news,” SAD 9 Superintendent Michael Cormier said of Hurst’s award. “What an honor for those two teachers.”