Several Central Florida teachers received a big honor in Orlando Monday night. They were named shining stars for their hard work in the classroom.
The awards ceremony showed how the educators made a big difference in more ways than one.
Thanks to Lucille Case, a teacher at Rock Lake Middle School in Seminole County, some students know first-hand how much bacteria is around them.
"Well, they swabbed different areas of the school and grew bacteria," Case said.
The students watched a History Channel show on diseases, but Case wanted to give them a hands-on learning experience.
"They discovered that probably the area that grew the most bacteria was their own desk, so that surprised everybody," Case said.
Case won an award from "Self" magazine for incorporating cable into the classroom.
Five other Central Florida teachers won the star teacher award from Bright House Networks for doing the same.
"They never know what we're going to come up with. One day you're learning about stars, the next day you have a wizard hat on and you're Harry Potter," said Nancy Keck, of the Greenwood Lakes Middle School.
"What we try to do is to be able to take the students and make things a little more real for them," said Margie Filmore, of Greenwood Lakes Middle School.
Case said that after finding out that their desks have more bacteria than the restrooms, the students have been sanitizing them before getting to work for the day.
The Shining Star awards were sponsored by Bright House Networks, the parent company of News 13.