By Holly Heller Staff Writer
    BREMEN — Being named best in the state could be quite an ego boost.
    But Lana Mark, who was recently recognized as Junior Academic Super Bowl Coach of the Year, won’t let it go to her head.
    In fact, she absolutely  refuses to stand in the spotlight alone.

    “This is the culmination of years and years of good students. It’s their award. The credit goes to the students,” she said.
    Along with her former students, Mark insists on bringing her fellow academic coaches at Bremen Middle School into the limelight.
    “This isn’t just me or just math,” Mark said. “We have a strong program. All of our coaches put in hours and hours. There are other coaches who are certainly worthy of the award. I hope this is the beginning of a trend at Bremen.”
    Mark was named Junior Academic Super Bowl Coach of the Year at the annual Academic Coaches Conference in Indianapolis Sept. 29.
    In her 19 years as a Junior Academic Super Bowl coach at Bremen Middle School, Mark’s math teams have finished in the top 10 six times, earning state championship honors twice.
    In her nine years as a Spell Bowl coach, she took five teams to the state finals, with two earning state championships.
    She has also been the MathCounts coach at Bremen for 24 years, with seven teams and 10 students as state finalists.
    Mark  has served as coordinator of Bremen Middle School’s Academic Super Bowl teams since she started the program 19 years ago.
    “Lana has been the heart and soul of our school’s Academic Super Bowl program,” said Jan Reed, social studies academic team coach for BMS. “Through her enthusiasm and tireless devotion to her teams, Lana has introduced hundreds of students to the notion that academic competition can be an exciting and rewarding extracurricular pursuit!”
    Even Mark admitted that her passion for learning is contagious.
    “If you love what you’re doing, it’s easy to work hard and do your best at it,” she said. “I try to model for students to work hard and always do their best.”
    Bremen Elementary-Middle School Principal Larry Yelaska is proud of Mark’s accomplishment.
    “The award is well deserved and affirms the years of dedication and her commitment to education.  Lana has been very modest about this great accomplishment and continues to credit her outstanding students and teams for her success. I feel very fortunate to have such a great teacher and academic coach on staff.”
    Ryan Dickinson, middle school assistant principal, is impressed with Mark’s ability to inspire greatness in others.
    “Lana has been a leader in helping develop other coaches,” Dickinson said.
    The BMS academic teams will meet Oct. 15 to begin studying for the May regional. This year’s topic is Norse Culture (vikings).
    “We work the whole school year on Super Bowl,” Mark said. “We learn a lot and it’s a lot of fun.”
    Mark has been teaching middle school math for 34 years — the past 31 with Bremen.