State education officials and representative from the Milken Educator Awards were at the Deerfield Elementary School yesterday to present principal Allan Cameron with a 2012 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award and an unrestricted financial award of $25,000.

Cameron, who is also on the school committee in his hometown of Walpole, was surprised as he was simply told that an educator at the school was going to be getting the award, but never told it was going to be him until it was announced.

“When I saw them take out an envelope and I was sitting right there I thought they were going to hand it to me and I was going to announce which teacher here had won it,” Cameron said after the ceremony.

The ceremony was a lot of fun for the whole school, as the entire student body of 256 kids were in the gym and several of them participated by reading things out loud or answering questions that were asked in an interactive format.

Deerfield Elementary School faculty, staff and students were also joined by administrators from the other schools in Westwood, as well as State Senator Mike Rush and State Representative Paul McMurtry. A contingent of state education officials also made the trip to Westwood, and some town officials were present as well.

“I really don’t feel that I deserve this award,” Cameron, the Deerfield principal since 2008, said upon accepting the award. “If I have it, it’s because of all the good work that all of you do. I’m only one piece of this much larger puzzle that works so well here in Westwood.”