Here are nominees for Muscogee County School District 2022 Teacher of the Year award
The 2022 Teacher of the Year in the Muscogee County School District will be one of the 52 nominees announced Wednesday.
The Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation, which conducts the district’s Teacher of the Year program, honored the nominees during a ceremony in Legacy Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.
“We are excited to be able to recognize and reward these Teacher of the Year honorees,” MEEF chairman Scott Allen said in a news release. “Now, more than ever, we need to honor our exceptional teachers, who are making a life-changing impact every day in their classroom.”
Each MCSD school’s faculty may nominate a teacher to compete for the district’s Teacher of the Year award. MEEF’s selection committee evaluates the applications and chooses 10 semifinalists to interview. Committee members pick three finalists to observe in their classroom. The winner is announced during the foundation’s annual gala.
This year’s gala is scheduled for May 5 in the Columbus Convention & Trade Center. The $50 tickets are set to go on sale March 23 at the RiverCenter box office.
The selection committee members are Tom Hackett (chairman), Carl Brown, Donovan Granville, Sheryl Green, Donna Kemp, Shane Larkin, Marquette McKnight, Josh Reynolds, Dacia Sheffield and Len Williams.
MCSD 2021 Teacher of the Year Lisa Seegar, a fifth-grade teacher at Britt David Magnet Academy, thanked the foundation for supporting and celebrating outstanding teachers.
“It is such a blessing to know that these members of our community understand the power of partnering with educators to make our district the best it can be,” Seegar said. “… Today, members from all across our community gather to let this amazing group of educators know that you are seen and the work that you do is valued.”
MCSD superintendent David Lewis congratulated the nominees.
“We’re so very proud of you,” he said. “We thank you for the job you do every single day. … You represent the highest professional ideals, principles, practices and standards of our profession. That’s not something you should take lightly.”
As the nominees were announced and they went on stage for fist-bump congratulations from MEEF board members and a group photo, Rothschild Leadership Academy principal Terri Myers beamed with pride.
She was the East Columbus Magnet Academy’s 2010 Teacher of the Year nominee as an eighth-grade English teacher. Now, she watched her daughter Yasmine Myers receive such an honor.
Yasmine, an eighth-grade social studies teacher, is Fort Middle School’s 2022 Teacher of the Year nominee.
“Remembering her as a little girl playing with her Barbies, she was a teacher,” Terri, a 29-year educator, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “She had to find her pathway. But to see her find that place and purpose and now to thrive in that, I mean, no greater joy.”
When her mother was nominated 12 years ago, Yasmine was attending Columbus High School and wasn’t interested in becoming a teacher. But seeing her mother excel as an educator gave her a role model when she decided to join the profession.
Yasmine, an educator for seven years, tries to emulate her mother’s standard of “treating people right” and the way she interacted with students.
“It wasn’t always about content,” she told the L-E, “but it was about relationships. … Even as an administrator, she still cares about the kids. It’s always the children first.”
So now that she has matched her mother’s accomplishment as a Teacher of the Year nominee, Yasmine said, “It’s like, ‘Wow.’”
Terri encourages Yasmine to take care of her mental health by taking time for herself so she doesn’t burn out.
“Find that balance,” Terri said. “… Find that safe place, that peaceful place, and stay there and not to overthink. Then don’t sweat the small stuff.”
MEEF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering educational excellence by focusing on teachers who are innovative and exceptionally effective. In its 26-year history, the foundation has awarded more $2.9 million to such educators through the Teacher of the Year and Harvard Fellows programs and grants, according to the news release.
MCSD 2022 TEACHER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES
Elementary schools
Allen: Steven Ring
Blanchard: Briana Shoulders
Brewer: Carnedra Hill
Britt David: Shea Lindblad
Clubview: Savannah Overby
Davis: LaTonya Walton
Dawson: Lyndsey Graddick
Dimon: Gena Davis
Dorothy Height: Treska Hardy
Double Churches: Maureen Girard
Downtown: Danielle Brendel
Eagle Ridge: Harriet Lewis
Forrest Road: Kati Morrell
Fox: Haley Smith
Gentian: Valerie Wicker
Georgetown: Ashley Greene
Hannan: Catherine Hernandez
Johnson: Larry Walker
Key: McKenzie Siter
Lonnie Jackson: Krystal Bailey
Martin Luther King Jr.: Holly Jackson
Mathews: Mimi Reese
Midland: Kimberly Pittman
North Columbus: Jasmine Pernell
Reese Road: Caprisha Battle
Rigdon Road: Taliah Hassan
River Road: Katie Cooper
South Columbus: Ashley Dallmann
St. Marys Road: Dakota Crawford
Waddell: Faith Lee
Wesley Heights: Keandra Alexander
Wynnton: Cynthia Swafford
Middle schools
Aaron Cohn: Heather White
Arnold: Hope Snead
Baker: Zachary Findley
Blackmon Road: Janet Fine
East Columbus: Shawn Souvenir
Eddy: Rachelle Washington
Fort: Yasmine Myers
Midland: Kimberly Fussell
Richards: Andrea McCarthy
Rothschild: Marshall Berger
Veterans: Vanessa Ellis
High schools
Carver: Melissa McCormick
Columbus: Danielle McCoy
Hardaway: Kelly Ellison
Jordan: Polly Propst-Everritt
Kendrick: Alexis Jones
Northside: Marlena Killingsworth
Shaw: Erin Melton
Spencer: Nazia Rizvi
Other
St. Elmo Center for the Gifted: Michele Freeman
No nominees
The following schools or centers don’t have nominees this year because their Teacher of the Year no longer is a classroom teacher at their school: Double Churches Middle School, Marshall Success Center for alternative education, Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts and Woodall Center for special education.
