A heartfelt tribute to Excelsior Springs educators sparked 148 nominations and five surprise winners in the Wood Heights Fire Protection District Auxiliary’s (WHFPDA) first-ever back-toschool teacher raffle.The giveaway, launched as part of the auxiliary’s broader back-to-school outreach, drew nominations for 88 different teachers across the Early Childhood Learning Center, Cornerstone Elementary, Lewis Elementary, Elkhorn Elementary, the middle school and high school. Multiple teachers were nominated more than once – 60 of the entries were duplicates – but each name was only entered into the final drawing once to keep the process fair.“Looking at the stats, 18.2% of the nominations were for Early Childhood Learning Center teachers, 27% were for Cornerstone teachers, 9.5% were for Lewis teachers, 18.2% were for Elkhorn teachers, 14.9% were for middle school teachers and 12.2% were for high school teachers,” stated WHFPDA President Kari McCullough....