POLAND — Julia Edwards whispered “Oh no” as she sat Thursday on the stage of the Poland Regional High School.

She had just watched her students walk to a side performance area in black attire, and learned they would sing a song she wrote.

Moments before, her husband, Dan Edwards, had walked up to the stage and handed her some tissues that soon came in handy.

Julia Edwards’ hand went to her heart as they started singing “Maryann,” a song she wrote about a woman coming into her own.

It was all in celebration of Edwards, who started singing and writing “ditties” as a toddler, and was named Thursday as the 2026 Maine Teacher of the Year.

As the singing started, Edwards — a teacher for 15 years, 13 of them in at Regional School Unit 16 in Poland — quickly walked to sit in the audience to watch and listen to her choral students from both the high school and the Bruce M. Whittier Middle School perform under the guidance of school band Director Larry Williams.

The young musicians learned the song in secret with Williams and other staff to keep Edwards from knowing.

Members of Edwards’ acoustic folk band also performed with the students.

Edwards was the 2025 Androscoggin County Teacher of the Year and a finalist among four educators for the top teacher honors for 2026. She was one of 550 teachers in the state nominated.

In her role, in addition to her teaching duties, Edwards will for the year act as an advocate for students and teaches. She will also represent Maine in the National Teacher of the Year program.

Amy Hediger, superintendent of Regional School Unit 16, met people outside the schools to welcome them Thursday morning. During the ceremony, she quoted an unknown author, saying, “‘Music is the joy of life that binds us together.”

Education dignitaries, lawmakers, past state and county teachers of the year, district administration, staff, and students took part in the celebration.

“Her enthusiasm for music and its ability to serve as a connector across cultures and differences is remarkable, and her gift for extending that love of the arts to her students is admirable,” Pender Makin, Maine Department of Education commissioner, said “Maine is lucky to have Julia representing and advocating for educators statewide throughout the next year.”

During her acceptance speech, Edwards talked about filmmaker Ken Burns paraphrasing physicist Robert R. Wilson, when he said that “science and the arts, especially the arts … have nothing to do with the actual defense of our country; they just make our country worth defending.”

“Music reminds us of what is good in our society, what is good in the world. Music can do that,” Edwards said.

She continued to say she was deeply honored by this new role, and while there is so much work ahead, she feels ready for it.

“I’m eager to celebrate the excellent education happening around the state,” Edwards said. “I joked with the other finalists that I was so busy prepping to be a cheerleader for whomever was named Maine Teacher of the Year that I forgot to prepare for what it might be like if that person were me. So, I’ve decided to take all of that preparation and lean in extra hard in cheering for the educators around this state.”

She concluded her speech saying, “My heart is full of gratitude for my supportive community, my collaborative colleagues and administrators, my enthusiastic students, and my inspiring family.”

Her son, Atticus, 8, said after the ceremony that his mother was a “very good music teacher” and is “good at problem solving.”

Her husband, an educator at Bridgton Academy, said his wife likes to make sure her students’ experiences are positive.

“She is very student centered,” he said, and she concentrates on how to help students learn and teaches her students to be leaders.

Her mother, Anne Polak, said that being a music educator is her daughter’s passion.

Sister Sara Handspicker of Portland said that when she first watched her sister teach music, she knew she was right where she belonged.

“I knew she was good at music and good at imparting knowledge,” she said. “I was just in awe.”