Mr. Douglas S. Clapp is an art, film, drama, and real world teacher at the Fort Kent Community High School in Northern Maine. Despite teaching four school subjects at a time, Mr. Clapp is also an award-winning theater director and an advisor for three different clubs: the chess club, art club, and drama club. On top of all of this, Mr. Clapp is a playwright and he even wrote, directed, and produced a movie!

    Every year, Mr. Clapp leads our drama club in putting on three different theatrical productions; a musical, a one-act competition play, and a full length non-musical. When Mr. Clapp isn't on the road for a chess tournament with the club, he can be found in his classroom, likely working on a new play. Creating posters, making tickets, designing a set, etc.

    Our drama club has struggled but managed to put on some very well-known works, such as Annie, For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls, and The Wizard of Oz. The sets for these plays (as well as most other plays performed by our drama club) were all solely designed by Mr. Clapp. He puts a lot of hard work into his play productions that you will not see in other theater directors.

    The drama club is also struggling financially, so Mr. Clapp pays for many of the tools and materials with which build the set out of his own pocket. The FKCHS drama club would not be a club if it wasn't for Mr. Clapp. Same goes for the drama, art, film, and real world classes as well as the chess and art clubs.

    Not only is Mr. Clapp a hardworking, dedicated man, he is also a very kind and amiable person. Mr. Clapp is a social butterfly who gets along with nearly everyone. He greets students he sees in the halls every morning and throughout every day. He treats everyone in the drama club as if we were all his children. Mr. Clapp is patient with students who are struggling, he is kind to those who are distressed, and just a generally optimistic person.

    I believe that Mr. Clapp deserves the Educator of the Year Award because he stands out in a lot of ways that most other teachers don't. He is friendly and helpful. He is considerate and sympathetic. He is intelligent and respectful. Mr. Clapp is the most extraordinary person you will ever meet, and that is a guarantee. He has even studied directing at Yale University to better his work. He is not your average educator; he is a director, a playwright, and a role model to all of his students.