Wilson earns teacher of year honors
THOMSON - First she was named the best teacher at her school, and now she's been named the best in the county.
Thomson Elementary School's library media specialist Natalie Wilson has been named the 2004 McDuffie County Teacher of the Year.
"It's very humbling," she said. "It's very difficult each year because there are so many who are deserving. It's a pat on the back, and it's very gratifying."
Teachers are first nominated by their fellow teachers which results in schools announcing their individual winners. Then those winners compete at the district level. Wilson beat out all of the other representatives from McDuffie County to win the coveted award and last week traveled to Atlanta to receive her prize - a golden apple trophy and a cash award - and meet with Gov. Sonny Perdue.
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Wilson's love for teaching is tangible. In fact, when starts talking about her students, it's hard to slow her down.
"No day is the same for me. Especially in the library, it's different every day," she said. "The children I get to see now - I get to see all of them. I love the fact I can sit down and discuss a book with a child and they may tell me it's hard. Then they come back the next day 'Oh, I love this book!"'
Natalie Wilson was named McDuffie County Teacher of the Year. She and other educators recently met in Atlanta with Gov. Sonny Perdue.
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Wilson has been teaching for 7 years, and along the way she's taught both reading and first grade before becoming the library media specialist, where she teaches every grade at Thomson Elementary.
While Thomson Elementary Principal Dr. Donald Davis is impressed that Wilson won the award, he's not surprised.
"She's a very organized individual," he said. "If you give her a task you really don't need to be concerned; she'll bring it to completion. She gets results in a very succinct manner."
So humble is Wilson that when talking about her award, she'd rather talk about her co-workers and pupils than herself.
"When I did win I was glad I won because my teachers were so elated," she said. "Being teacher of the year, it was an unbelievable experience because of the staff here and the students."