There are many reasons second-graders at Lewis and Clark Elementary School believe their principal, Vickie Donisthorpe, is worthy of the Montana Parent Teacher Association Educator of the Year award.

"She makes announcements," 7-year-old Jorden Weatherford said. "She looks in our classroom and says, 'good job.'"

"I call her Ms. D.," Brendan King, 7, said. "Whenever it's our birthday, you get to go down to the office and get a pencil."

"She's a really cool principal, and she lets us do cool things," Chris Gray, 7, added. "She lets us eat out in the courtyard."

Donisthorpe, 43, who shies away from the compliments, was blown away to learn that she won the award that was given to principal Howard Corey of Riverview Elementary in 2007.

"I'd rather be unrecognized because that's not how I do business," she said, adding she won only because of the people she works with.

"It's a great school and a great staff," she said.

Donisthorpe, who has spent 20 years working in education, grew up in Hobson and earned her teaching degree from the University of Great Falls. She spent two years teaching in Belt and then moved to Great Falls where she taught first and fifth grades for several years before becoming one of the district's teachers on special assignment who worked in various capacities. In 2002, she started as principal at Lewis and Clark Elementary.

When she initially took the job as principal, it was hard to let go of the classroom setting and move into an administrative role, she said. She still spends a majority of her time walking the halls, visiting classrooms and sometimes wiping down tables in the cafeteria, according to her secretary, Debbie Holman, who said Donisthorpe is hardly ever at her desk.

"She has the best interest of the kids at heart," Holman said. "She makes it a point to get to know the kids."

Donisthorpe said that in the first month of school this year, she learned the names of her 365 students — and is coming close to getting all the families' names down.

Teamwork between the parents, teachers and children is paramount to her.

"We do have a lot of family events," she said.

Maggie Walters, Great Falls PTA director and member of the Lewis and Clark PTA, said Donisthorpe's teamwork approach is what made PTA members nominate her.

"I think she is a pioneer of parent involvement," Walters said. "She is a very strong advocate for all children. She's amazing, I just can't say enough about her."

Dee Maclean, a Hamilton PTA member and chair of the Montana PTA Awards Committee, said Donisthorpe had many letters of recommendation, which gave committee members a complete picture of the principal's role.

"I'm very impressed with Vickie, and I haven't even met her," Maclean said.

Donisthorpe said she always wanted to be an educator — from her days growing up on a Hobson farm playing "school" and "teacher" to now, when she meets her students in the lunchroom and, as 7-year-old Nina Salas said, gives them the thumbs up when they do something good.

"I'm just in love with what I do," Donisthorpe said. "I couldn't see myself doing anything else."