Park City High School students and staff filled the cafeteria Friday morning as the band struck up a tune.
They were there for a surprise announcement: the 2026 Excellent Educator awards, presented by the Park City Education Foundation and the Doilney and Louis families.
Each school’s staff votes for teachers deserving of the honor and a $3,500 award. The program also includes the $5,000 Sarah and Stephen Doilney Award, where students nominate Park City School District teachers who have positively impacted them.
This year, Park City High math and health science teacher Debra Alcox received the student award, while science and Career and Technical Education teacher Mary Purzycki received the staff award. The pair just happen to be best friends.
Purzycki and Alcox said winning the awards together was the ultimate honor.
“We’ll be laughing about this all day,” Purzycki said.
“I love her, I mean, and she is an incredible teacher,” she said.
They met 20 years ago when Alcox moved in across the hall from Purzycki’s classroom. Alcox said Purzycki became her mentor.
Their friendship grew at the Park City Education Foundation’s 2009 Running with Ed fundraiser. After running on the same team, Alcox said they started exercising together regularly.
“Now we run all the time, like every morning, like this morning, 4 miles,” she said. “We get up at 4 a.m. because we know that we'll stay after all the time for students, so we can never do it after school.”
They received flower bouquets and plaques as school leaders announced the honors. On stage with their families, the pair laughed and wiped away tears as a slideshow from their various runs played in the background.
Purzycki said their early morning runs, bike rides and swims have cemented the bond first forged in education.
“It’s gotten us through 30 years of teaching,” Purzycki laughed.
“And through everything, through family stuff, through the highs and the lows,” Alcox said. “You’re there for each other and you just keep holding each other up.”
Alcox said that means supporting each other mentally and physically through their years of adventures.
She said they survived a technically challenging bike ride only for Purzycki to fall and break her wrist once back on the sidewalk. Another time, Alcox broke her ankle when the pair got lost in Round Valley.
Some injuries allowed the educators to benefit from their hard work preparing future generations to enter the workforce.
“You gave them these opportunities to be able to go out and be upstanding citizens and work in our community,” Purzycki said. “It's sometimes awkward when you need a blood draw, and they're like, ‘Miss Purzycki?!’ and you're like, ‘Yeah, it's OK, we're good. Don't get nervous.’”
Alcox and Purzycki will retire at the end of the school year, something they planned together.
They’re excited to have more time for adventures, to find new trails and to sleep past 4 a.m.
The foundation and Doilney and Louis families also recognized the following with a 2026 Excellent Educator Award:
- Music teacher Zachary Giddings, Ecker Hill Middle School
- 4th grade teacher Jennifer Riggs, Jeremy Ranch Elementary
- 5th grade teacher Sam Thompson, McPolin Elementary
- 2nd grade teacher Avery Kidd, Parleys Park Elementary
- Instructional coach Lori Drivdahl, Trailside Elementary
