SIDNEY — The Midwest Regional Educational Service Center has announced the Ohio Association for Gifted Children (OAGC) has recognized Erica Baer as Ohio’s Gifted Coordinator of the Year. Baer is a resident of Troy Ohio, and works throughout Shelby, Logan and Hardin counties.

The Coordinator of the Year Award is presented by OAGC in acknowledgement of a significant contribution to gifted education on a local, state, or national level through innovative ideas, public support, advocacy efforts, or exemplary efforts in educational policy development, leadership, professional development, gifted curriculum development, gifted program development or gifted service.

Baer is recognized for her outstanding leadership contributions to the field of gifted education, seeing and tirelessly filling a need at a most critical time. As her nominee explained, “I have known Erica, virtually, since the spring of 2020. When the whole world was shutting down in the midst of a global pandemic, Erica realized the need for educators to connect like no other time in our collective histories…to find NEW best practices to serve gifted students through remote teaching.”

Baer served her state-wide gifted community by facilitating Zoom meetings with gifted educators from all corners of Ohio to share successes and offer assistance and advice.

Baer is the director of Student Achievement for the Midwest Regional Educational Service Center (www.mresc.org), serving 12 diverse school districts in a geographically large region. In addition to developing and facilitating over 800 hours of professional development since 2019, she has led several important initiatives including the IGNITE leadership conference, book studies, a summer enrichment academy, Lego Robotics, and more.

Baer also serves as the Region 4 representative for the Ohio Association for Gifted Children and is a member of the Ohio Gifted Advisory Council. Ohio’s gifted students have benefitted from Baer’s expertise, dedication, advocacy, and vision. In the words of one supporter, “She truly exemplifies this award through her significant contribution to gifted education on many levels in Ohio!