Engineering teacher Charlie Lauts was getting ready to walk her students through their final project on Dec. 17 when the principal, superintendent and some school board members surprised her with a $5,000 check.

The honor was Special Award for Dedication to Education — a recognition given through the Lawrence Schools Foundation by anonymous donors.

“I think it’s great,” senior Darrin Sorem said, who was there to see his “very involved, enthusiastic and understanding teacher” accept the award. “I really think she deserves it.”

After 24 years of teaching, Lauts teetered between shock and amazement.

“Disbelief,” Lauts recalled of her emotions, “like is this a joke?”

Senior Zach Losey said Lauts is a favorite teacher among her students.

“She’s a cool teacher, so, like it’s good to have a teacher you can just come talk to,” he said. “It’s great to get reminded every once in a while that you’re doing such a good job with what you do.”

Students said Lauts inspires them to do better.

“I guess I inspire them by saying, ‘If you’re gonna be successful, you got to be willing to work for it,’ ” Lauts said.

Lauts teaches students through hands-on experiences aimed at helping them succeed in college and life in general.

“I want to pursue a career in engineering, and in her classes they prepare us to solve and do a lot of research that gets us more interested and involved in what were going to be doing the rest of our lives,” Sorem said.

Less than a month after her honor, Lauts’ students demonstrated how much they have learned in her classes. Six LHS seniors challenged other schools in an engineering competition the weekend of Jan. 14. The competition consisted of three challenges. The first was a six-hour design and build in which they placed first. The second challenge was a 30-second video presentation of infrastructure where they placed second. And the last challenge was a 20-minute design, build and draw. The team of seniors Steve Cowser, Ross Johnson, Emily Davidson, Darrin Sorem, Collin Belcher, Stephen Bell and Matt Zabel received three judges awards and placed second overall. In March, they will travel to Las Vegas for nationals.

Until then, students can continue to dream up ways for Lauts to spend her award money.

“I think she should put some of it toward the engineering class,” Sorem said. “She should have got both of her boys outstanding Christmas presents, and she should take another vacation to Mexico.”

So what has Lauts spent the money on?

“Nothing,” she said. “We have family discussions about how we want to spend the money, and we just haven’t come up with an answer yet.”