AUGUSTA — Finalists have been named in the 1991 Maine Teacher of the Year competition:

Stephen C. Ellwood IV, grades six through eight in mathematics, science, art and current events at St. Francis Elementary School;

David M. Garippa Jr., grades nine through 12 in biology and chemistry at Cony High School, Augusta;

Kimberly M. Thoma Rhodes, grades nine through 12 in French at Mount View High School in Thorndike.

Ellwood is a 1984 graduate of the University of Maine at Fort Kent and has taught at St. Francis since 1987. He attended the University of Maryland as a biology major. He taught at Fort Kent and St. Agatha.

Garippa has taught 10 years at college and high school levels. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Louisville in biology/immunology, and has taught biology and chemistry at Cony High School. He also has taught at the University of Maine at Augusta and served as an instructor at the University of Louisville and Abilene Christian University.

Rhodes is a 1982 graduate of Colgate University who completed her master of arts in teaching French at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1987. She has taught at the University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France, and the Lycee Saint-Sernin in Toulouse. She has taught all levels of French at Mount View High School.

The Maine Teacher of the Year will be announced in October.