Dover High School Dance Teacher Hannah Olmo Named New Jersey State Teacher of the Year

Get the free Morris County Fall Bucket List

60+ of the best things to do across Morris County this fall. Apple picking, corn mazes, hayrides, fall festivals, haunted attractions and cider donuts. Straight to your inbox, free.

Send me the list

Dover High School dance teacher Hannah Olmo has been named New Jersey’s 2026-27 State Teacher of the Year, the New Jersey Department of Education announced on October 7, 2026. Olmo, Morris County’s 2026-27 County Teacher of the Year, now represents every public school teacher in the state for the year ahead.

It is the top honor in New Jersey’s Governor’s Educator of the Year program, and it is going to a teacher in one of Morris County’s most diverse and hardworking school districts. Olmo was one of three finalists statewide, alongside a second-grade teacher from Allamuchy Township in Warren County and a STEM teacher from East Windsor in Mercer County.

The Dance Program She Built at Dover High School

Olmo has taught at Dover High School for eight years. In that time she built a four-year, scaffolded dance program centered on equity, creativity and community. According to the state, the program now serves about 100 students in academic dance courses and more than 80 more through extracurricular groups.

She also founded the school’s Dance Club, the Heritage Dance Ensemble and Dover High School’s first chapter of the National Honor Society of Dance Arts, and she revitalized the Latin Mix Club as a culturally focused dance group. Her students have been recognized at the Morris County Teen Arts Festival and the State Teen Arts Festival, and several have gone on to study dance in college.

Every spring, Olmo produces the district’s Spring Dance Concert, one of Dover’s biggest school events, with more than 100 student performers and more than 600 people in the audience.

Why Dance Matters to Her

Olmo’s path to the classroom started with a “no.” Growing up in the Midwest, she asked her local school board at 16 to add dance to the arts offered at her high school, and the board turned her down. “At the very moment I was told no, I knew I wanted to be part of the movement to change that reality for other young dancers eager to chase their dreams,” she said in the state’s announcement.

That is exactly what she did in Dover. “Many of my students call the dance studio ‘home,’ and that is a phrase I never take lightly,” Olmo said.

Dover Superintendent Luis Jaime said what began as a dance program has become “a place where students find their voice, build confidence, celebrate their culture, and, most importantly, feel a sense of belonging.” Dover High School Principal Johanna Ross added that Olmo “brings joy into the classroom” and celebrates her students’ growth along the way.

A Rutgers Alum Who Stayed in New Jersey

Olmo earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from the Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts and a master’s degree in dance education from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Education Commissioner Lily Laux called it “especially meaningful to see a dance educator named State Teacher of the Year.”

What Happens Next

As State Teacher of the Year, Olmo will work with the New Jersey Department of Education for the year, speaking with teachers and aspiring teachers, giving presentations around the state and visiting classrooms across New Jersey. She will also take part in national conferences with the other State Teachers of the Year from around the country.

For Dover, it is a well-earned moment in the spotlight for a town that already punches above its weight. If you have never spent a day there, our guide to things to do in Dover, NJ is a good place to start, and families can catch the town’s 16th annual Trunk-or-Treat at Crescent Field on October 17.

Congratulations, Mrs. Olmo, from all of us at Shop Morris County.

Photo: New Jersey Department of Education, official 2026-27 State Teacher of the Year headshot (nj.gov/education/recognition/educators/geoy).