Choosing from thousands of members and hundreds of schools across Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, the Northwest Council for Computer Education last month honored East Helena’s Marne Bender as its Innovative Teacher Librarian for 2026.
Bender, who spends half her day with Eastgate kindergarteners and half as the library media specialist at East Helena High, was stunned to learn of the honor while on a February video call with NCCE and her colleague, Radley librarian K.D. Jones – who had nominated Bender.
Logging on, she saw other East Helena librarians, and her own two children, and knew something was up. “They let me know I won the award and I immediately felt overwhelmed, surprised, and very flattered,” Bender told The Monitor, crediting her team for her success.
“I feel more humbled than anything. I don’t see myself as someone who set out to win awards, I’ve just tried to respond to the needs of our students and staff in the best ways I know how.”
Now in her third year at EHHS and Eastgate, and 17th serving East Helena public schools, the 38-year-old Bender’s list of achievements is long. She was instrumental in bringing iPads and Chromebooks into East Helena classrooms. She co-founded an annual educator gathering that has fostered considerable collaboration and will mark its 13th summer session this year.
In 2019, she founded East Helena High’s Esports team, which has won five state titles under her coaching and produced nationally recognized prospects. She created a makerspace for preschool and kindergarten students in which, no kidding, she is now teaching coding and robotics.
“This is our second year of robotics using Sphero Indi robot cars, which are screen-free and read colors as their code,” she explained. “It is very simple to start with, but I do emphasize with the kids that they are creating code ‘pathways’ for their robot to read.”
To top it off, following a pilot program in 2024-25, this school year Bender launched the Vigilante Story Squad, in which high schoolers visit elementary classrooms to read to younger students and play with them at recess. Nearly 50 EHHS students are already involved, assigned to individual PreK, K, 1st and 2nd graders.
“The cross-age relationships that have formed have been magical,” said Bender. “The younger kids love their older buddies and look forward to their visits. I have some kids that ask every single library day, “When are our big kid buddies coming over?’”
Put it all together and it’s hard to imagine a more worthy award winner, even though NCCE represents 4,000 members and 200 school districts across the region and that award winners can work at public or private schools.
“It is a true honor to recognize Marne Bender as our Innovative Teacher Librarian of the Year,” said NCCE’s Chief Operating Officer Bobby Myers. “Few educators embody the full spectrum of technology powered learning the way Marne does—guiding our youngest kindergarten students as they take their first steps with digital tools, while simultaneously leading high school learners into advanced arenas like esports and data literacy.”
East Helena Public Schools Superintendent Dan Rispens felt honored to have Marne contributing to district education. “Mrs. Bender is a great example of an educator who always puts her students first and is tireless in seeking ways to connect kids with knowledge,” he told The Monitor. “Her enthusiasm is contagious, and we are all so very proud of her accomplishments.”
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Photo in Dropbox EH March 26 folder
