ZACHARY, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Copper Mill Elementary School science teacher and LSU Shreveport (LSUS) master's graduate Regena Hartley Beard is Louisiana's Teacher of the Year.

Eleven years ago, her principal gave her a challenge, presented as an opportunity. To teach something she had no experience in.

“I had never touched a robot in my life. I liked how my principal worded that – ‘an opportunity – but he was right, it changed my career path. I’m super grateful for that opportunity, even if I didn’t think it was one at the time,” said Beard.

Beard currently teaches a sixth-grade robotics class and integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) with computer science into her fifth-grade science class, which earned her the 2026 Louisiana Teacher of the Year Award and th

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