GRAND FORKS – Grand Forks elementary teacher Emily Dawes was recognized on Friday by North Dakota K-12 Superintendent Kirsten Baesler as one of four candidates for North Dakota Teacher of the Year. “I'm just putting my heart into those kids, and they are my absolute reason for it.”The North Dakota Teacher of the Year Award has been honoring teachers since 1963. Jennifer Odell, North Dakota Department of Public Instruction Teacher of the Year program coordinator, said an eight-member committee with representatives from departments and organizations representing North Dakota will decide the state winner. “To have a North Dakota winner representing North Dakota as a National Teacher of the Year would just be beyond what I think our state needs. “It would be fantastic for North Dakota to have a national teacher of the year,” Odell said.