ST. AMANT - St. Amant High School social studies teacher Jacob Newsom is in the running for a nationwide competition where he could win $25,000, a trip to Hawaii and a virtual assembly for the school from Bill Nye.

The competition is called America's Favorite Teacher and is put on by Collosal Management LLC.

An alumnus of St. Amant High, Newsom has been a teacher at the high school for 11 years. He's taught at least seven different courses, including AP European History, World History, Fine Arts Survey and AP Art History.

Newsome said winning this contest would help his family for a little while and allow him to continue doing what he loves.

"So this contest is a way for me to continue doing what I love and also a way to make the bills hurt less for a while. The only real gripe I have about public education and the only way I would leave it is if things became too expensive, through inflation or something like that I would really just have to quit," Newsom said.

People can vote online on the America's Favorite Teacher website.

"So you can go vote once a day, or you can go make donations, and that allows you to have more votes," Newsom said.

The candidates are currently in the voting stage, which lasts until Thursday at 7 p.m.

"I'm currently in the running to be in the finals. I've been in first place this whole time, and like 24 hours ago I got knocked down to third, and I need to be in at least second," Newsom said.

He says the next round is like a playoff bracket where over 30 teachers nationwide compete for the grand prize. The first seed in each group gets a bye, while the second seed has a wild card round. Then it goes to the quarterfinals and semi-finals, leading up to a final vote.

Newsom credits a history lesson he got at LSU about the battle of Thermopylae for making him want to be a teacher.

"I had this professor, Karl Roider. An old man of history, a real academic. He showed me that you could teach history in a way where it wasn't just interesting to people who like history, but it taught a lesson, it was relevant," Newsom said.

He said he has implemented teaching methods like these in his classes.