Oakfield High School Teacher Wins National Award

Karl McCarty, a teacher at Oakfield High School received the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) 2026 Outstanding Teacher of American History Award for his efforts in connecting history with students’ lives and civic engagement. The award was presented at the DAR 135th Continental Congress in Washington D.C.

McCarty’s Background

McCarty has been teaching at Oakfield for over 20 years and was a graduate of Campbellsport High School. He went to UW-Oshkosh for his bachelors in order to teach social studies. Afterwards he went to Marian University for his masters and PhD to be a principal/superintendent.

McCarty said, “I think my favorite part to teach to students is the sacredness of this area. A lot of people are unaware or it wasn’t taught to them the significance of the land and its sacredness from Oakfield, the Horicon Marsh, the Theresa Marsh, to St. Kilian, Ashford and Eden.”

Growing up, he worked at his family’s farm just outside of St. Kilian with his three brothers and parents, Jim and Deb McCarty. The farm usually consisted of around 90 cows milking. He was raised within the St. Kilian parish as well.

“I really enjoy teaching at Oakfield because I was a farm kid and at Oakfield we have a strong FFA, we have a strong rural tradition and I’m teaching kids that are grandchildren of farmers. Some are still working on farms,” McCarty explained.

In order to pay for school he worked at Tom’s and the Amber Hotel. From 2004 to 2006 he was on the Campbellsport School board and he has written some stories for this paper since 2015.

Currently he is working on researching the native tribes that lived here and educating landowners on the historic preservation required to honor the land.

The Award

In order to receive the award you had to be nominated by a chapter of DAR and he was nominated by Sue Wolf from the Appleton chapter. Then there was a long application process, which was around 20 pages long. Within it he listed his educational background, teaching history, summary of teaching accomplishments, related professional activities (such as books/publications), future writing and awards. This award in particular is focused on US history.

Once he won State representative he was put in the running to win the national award. In the spring, he won the national award and with it the $5,000 prize.

With that he was flown out courtesy of DAR to Washington D.C. to accept the award. McCarty accepted the award during the Education Awards Night on Thursday, June 25.

DAR is a genealogical society in which they trace their ancestors back to those who fought in the Revolutionary War.

While in Washington D.C. was able to tour the monuments, and see the DAR Hall which is right next to the White House.

“I think when you teach it is really hard to actually have evidence of your career… You share so much and you talk about ideas but you don’t have a way to show your work,” McCarty mentioned. This award gives him a way to show his career and its impacts on the students.

He continued, “This award means a lot and I just appreciate that it gives attention to our small schools.”

If you are interested in hearing his speech you can find it by looking at Oakfield School District’s Facebook page.