Sharon Varney-Mahieu of Louisa County High School has been selected from a pool of national nominees to receive the 2012 Outstanding High School Teacher Award from the Curry School of Education Foundation. The award is presented annually to an exemplary graduate of the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education.

Varney-Mahieu has been teaching French since 2005. Known for building a supportive classroom environment while providing rigorous instruction, she has grown the French program over the past seven years, adding both the school's first Advance Placement-level French course and an extra-curricular French club. She is also a clinical instructor for the Curry School's foreign language teacher preparation program.

"Her students love her as the fun-loving, hard-working, creative, patient and adaptable teacher that she is," said Marie Van Wynsberge, a Curry alumna who did her student teaching under Varney-Mahieu's supervision. "I was in awe of Sharon's knowledge of her individual students' needs."

Varney-Mahieu received a bachelor of arts degree from Vanderbilt University in 1985, a master of arts degree in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Slavic languages, both from U.Va., in 1995. She then received a master of teaching degree in foreign language education from Curry in 2006.

She will attend a reception and receive her award at the Curry School of Education on Oct. 25.