Tara Cocanower is a passionate educator at Bluffton High School in Bluffton, Indiana, where she teaches world history, Advanced Placement world history and a principles of education course. Cocanower graduated from Norwell High School before attending the University of Southern Indiana, where she graduated with honors and earned bachelor’s degrees in history and secondary education. She was a member of the women’s golf team and earned all-conference and academic all-American awards.

After college, Cocanower joined the Peace Corps and served in Romania as an education volunteer from 2008 – 2010, working with Roma youth, teaching English as a foreign language, working on local farms and enhancing community development. Upon returning to the United States Cocanower then accepted a position at Southwood Junior-Senior High School to teach seventh-grade social studies, world history and Advanced Placement world history in addition to coaching girls and boys golf.

Following the opportunities at Southwood, she returned to Bluffton and has worked for Bluffton-Harrison schools since 2014. She is the head coach of two sports, serves as the co-technology coordinator and high school high-ability coordinator and leads the history/Academic Super Bowl club. Cocanower was honored as the 2022 Bluffton-Harrison Teacher of the Year and the 2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year. She believes in creating an equitable and engaging learning environment for all students, supporting students’ social-emotional development, enhancing social studies literacy and empowering students to be world-changers.