AUBURN – To honor the hard work and dedication of teachers everywhere, the Auburn OfficeMax store is joining TeachersCount and Marvel Entertainment to ask local middle school students to nominate their favorite teacher in the “OfficeMax Super Hero Teacher of the Year” contest.

Auburn area students in grades six through eight can nominate their teacher by writing an essay in 200 words or less describing “Why My Teacher Is a Super Hero.” The grand-prize winning teacher and the nominating student will make an illustrated cameo appearance in a Marvel comic book as well as in a special-edition comic book honoring teachers.

The grand-prize winning teacher will receive $6,000 in prizes for school and personal classroom supplies and for continuing education support. The student who nominates the winning teacher will earn a $500 OfficeMax gift card.

Five first-prize winning teachers and students will win $100 OfficeMax gift cards and will also appear in the custom, teacher-themed comic book.

“Our store supports teachers and education through our MaxPerks for Teachers program and our teacher appreciation events,” said Rob Tennant, district manager of OfficeMax in Auburn. “We encourage local students to nominate their teachers as real-life heroes who overcome difficult challenges every day to inspire education in the classroom.”

Contest entry forms are available in the store located at 88 Union St., and completed entries may be dropped off at the same store.

To be eligible, all entries must be received at the store by Friday, March 17, or mailed with a postmark no later than March 17 to TeachersCount. The winning teacher will be announced on National Teacher Day, Tuesday, May 9.

For more information, visit www.officemax.com. More information about Marvel can be found at www.marvel.com. Teachers Count information can be found at www.teacherscount.org.

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