As students walked into Gloria Noyes’ fifth-grade classroom Wednesday, they each passed by a star sticker with their name on it, welcoming them to a new year of school.

“One of my goals is to make kids feel special,” Noyes said, as she hung the stars outside her classroom door at Congin School Tuesday, the day before school started.

Though academics are important to Noyes, she said, more than anything, she tries to nourish students’ individual talents and to teach them to believe in themselves.

“Whether it’s singing or math, whatever makes them feel good about themselves, that’s the foundation to jump off of and get them to try other things,” she said.

Fellow teachers and former students say it’s Noyes’ compassion for all students that makes her a great teacher – and a worthy finalist for the state’s 2009 Teacher of the Year award. After what Noyes called an “intense” process of interviews, observations and essays, one of the four finalists will be named Teacher of the Year at a surprise assembly in September.

“It’s overwhelming to even think about,” Noyes said about being named Teacher of the Year.

With perks like trips to Washington, D.C., to meet the president and to Alabama for space camp, Noyes said there is a part of her that would like to receive the honor, but, she said, it’s hard for her to be in the limelight.

“We’re around so many great teachers in the district and the state,” she said. “I’m not better than anybody else.”

According to Jennifer Pooler, Teacher of the Year coordinator for the Department of Education, the committee that choses the finalists looks for a teacher it believes would best represent all teachers in the state, judging abilities such as writing and public speaking. The teachers also have to answer questions about their teaching styles and philosophies – a part of the process that many finalists find rewarding in and of itself, Pooler said.

The other finalists for 2009 are Michelle Gagne, a first-grade teacher at Sherwood Heights Elementary School in Auburn; David Giroux, a Grade 9-12 automotive technology instructor at Maine Vocational Region 10 School in Brunswick; and Diana Tomasello Waterman, a K-6 music/chorus teacher at Alfred and Shapleigh Memorial elementary schools.

Peter Lancia, principal of Congin School, who was named 2002 Teacher of the Year, said the self-reflection involved in the process and the experiences he had throughout the following year has helped him as a teacher and a principal – and he believes Noyes is well-deserving of the same opportunities.

“She’s phenomenal,” he said about Noyes. “She would represent Westbrook and the community so well.”

As a Teacher of the Year finalist, Noyes joins a long list of Westbrook teachers, including three who won the honor in the past 10 years – Lancia, Marguerite Lawler-Rohner for 2004 and Todd Fields for 2000.

Noyes counts herself lucky to work alongside the teachers in the district, and she knows first-hand how much they can influence students. A Westbrook native, Noyes first thought she’d like to become a teacher when she was a fourth-grader at the Congin School.

Within a year of her father dying, Noyes’ mother remarried and the family moved to a new home, which meant Noyes had to switch from Canal to Congin School. On top of dealing with loss and change, Noyes was bullied for being the new girl in fourth grade.

Though it may have been one of her toughest years, the care and understanding she received from her teacher, Roberta Dutton, changed her life. Dutton, she said, would let her come into school early and help her in the classroom, and leave early to avoid being bullied on her way out of the building.

“She would tell me how great I was and really made me feel unique and good about myself,” Noyes said of Dutton. “From that point on, I realized I wanted to give back.”

Noyes, 37, went on to graduate from Westbrook High School and the University of Maine at Farmington, only to return to Westbrook, where she has been teaching for 16 years, all but one of them as a fifth-grade teacher at Congin School.

Still, she said, it’s always a mad rush right before school starts.

“Every time you think your things are set, they drop a whole new load of stuff off,” she said, pointing to stacks of books on the side of her classroom, as she cut the extra lamination off of posters to put on the walls.

Noyes said she’s been working for the past three weeks, arranging desks, buying supplies and decorating the room so that students will feel at home right away. It also helps that she tries to remember all of their names within 10 minutes of the start of the first day.

But she’s constantly reminded that her hard work is worthwhile, as she watches her students succeed. She said getting invitations to graduation parties and cards from students letting her know she inspired them to become teachers, too, is the greatest reward – as well as the visits from former students she receives nearly every day.

As Noyes was putting the final touches on her classroom Tuesday, before an open house for parents and students that night, two of her fifth-graders from the year before, Marissa Martel and Cassidy Webster, came by just because “we haven’t seen her all summer,” Webster said.

The girls listed Noyes’ kindness and fairness to all students as what stood out most to them about their teacher – the same qualities that stuck with Karleigh Gaudreau, now a junior at Westbrook High School.

“She treated every kid equally. She’s such a caring person toward everyone,” Gaudreau said about Noyes, who taught her to be confident and pursue her dreams. And according to Gaudreau, Noyes’ reputation precedes her.

“Everybody wants her as a teacher,” she said.

The faculty feels the same way about having her as a colleague, according to her fellow fifth-grade teacher, Liz Barker.

“Everybody loves Gloria,” said Barker, whose classroom is right next door to Noyes’. She said the two of them work together watching over each other’s classrooms, if one needs to give special attention to a student.

Though Barker believes Noyes’ hard work and compassion make her worthy of the Teacher of the Year title, because of the amount of time she would have to take off of school, for selfish reasons, Barker doesn’t want her to win.

“I’d have to have a sub,” she said.

Gloria Noyes, a fifth-grade teacher at the Congin School, is one of four finalists for state’s Teacher of the Year award.