Columbia County's 2005-06 Teachers of the Year
Finalists:
Back
Andy Baumgartner - Greenbrier Elementary
Andy Baumgartner
Photo by Jim Blaylock
This is the kindergarten teacher's 13th year of teaching in Georgia schools and his fourth year in Columbia County. A former National Teacher of the Year, he has served as a speech and language pathologist for all grade levels, a classroom teacher in elementary grades, an early-childhood consultant for the Middle Georgia Regional Education Service Agency and a state and national ambassador for education.
Noel Feeney - Harlem High
Noel Feeney
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Although Feeney was born and raised in Michigan, she has lived throughout the world. The Harlem High School English teacher received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Michigan University and her master's degree in speech and English from the University of Michigan. Feeney has taught at all levels of education, from primary to college.
She is married to a retired Army officer and has one son.
Leeann Fleischauer - Euchee Creek Elementary
Leeann Fleischauer
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Fleischauer believes all students are unique in how they learn and receive information. To meet these diverse needs, the second-grade teacher at Euchee Creek Elementary believes educators must be life-long learners. In 1993, Fleischauer earned her bachelor's degree from Augusta State University and later earned a master's degree in elementary education from the University of South Carolina Aiken. She is pursuing a specialist degree in educational leadership.
Camille Barton Spires - Bel Air Elementary
Camille Barton Spires
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Spires has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia in scientific illustration and more than 10 years of professional experience in graphic design. The Bel Air Elementary school visual arts teacher is married and has two young sons for inspiration. When her first son's school needed an art teacher, she started teaching "art from a cart" in the regular teachers' classrooms.
Spires now has begun her seventh year of teaching art in Columbia County.
Leslie Wright - Greenbrier Middle
Leslie Wright
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Leslie Wright, who has been at Greenbrier Middle School for three years, teaches eighth-grade writing and one class of gifted writing. Before becoming a member of the Wolfpack, Wright taught language arts for 17 years at Hephzibah Middle School and three years at Hillcrest Baptist School. She earned her undergraduate degree in English education and her master's degree in counseling from Augusta State University. She also has earned endorsements in gifted and talented education and teacher support specialist.
School Teachers of the Year
Lynn Carswell - Blue Ridge Elementary
After dealing with her reading disability as a child, Carswell, the Blue Ridge Elementary teacher of the year, gets a thrill from teaching her kindergarten students to read.
Carswell has been teaching at Blue Ridge for six years. Previously, she taught for the Richmond and Camden counties school systems and at Abiqua School in Salem, Ore. Carswell is a product of the Georgia public school system. She attended the University of Georgia and Kennesaw State University for undergraduate degrees and Georgia Southern University for graduate school.
Dianna Teagarden - Brookwood Elementary
Dianna Teagarden
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Teagarden, who is from North Carolina, earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master's degree from Augusta State University. After teaching three years in North Carolina, she moved to Georgia and began working at Brookwood Elementary when it opened in 1989. She teaches the second grade. Teagarden's experience includes teaching kindergarten, first, second and third grade, but most of her experience has been in second grade.
Phyllis Kitchens - Evans Elementary
Phyllis Kitchens
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Phyllis Kitchens is a graduate of Florida State University, where she received a bachelor's degree in music education and a certificate in music therapy. While working with adults, she became interested in what motivates the learning process in adult learners and returned to Georgia Southern University. After receiving a master's degree in adult education, she worked in that field for eight years.
Through church work with children's choirs, Kitchens found she missed music, loved children and sought to return to her original field. She said the supportive and caring attitudes of the Evans Elementary faculty, parents and staff with whom she works in addition to the support of her church, Warren Baptist, has deeply influenced her depth of commitment to reaching and teaching children.
Shawn Birchfield - Grovetown Elementary
Shawn Birchfield
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Shawn Birchfield began her teaching career in 1980 at Grovetown Elementary. She has taught kindergarten all of her 25 years at Grovetown Elementary. She has been honored with Teacher of the Year twice. Birchfield really loves her job and says that teaching brings joy to her heart. She received her bachelor's degree in early childhood education at Georgia Southern University. In the past five years, she has earned her masters degree in curriculum and instruction with specialization in creative arts from Lesley University and her specialist degree in administrative leadership from Lincoln Memorial University.
Birchfield has two girls, Taryn and Talyn, and a very large, supportive family. She attends Harlem Baptist Church and teaches the 3- to 5-year-olds.
Lori Tucker - Lewiston Elementary
Lori Tucker
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Tucker has been teaching for 18 years. This is her third year in Columbia County. Tucker earned her bachelor's degree from Georgia College and State University. She earned her Master of Education degree from Georgia Southern University.
Most of her professional experience was in Evans County, where she also was named Claxton Elementary School's Teacher of the Year in 2002. Tucker is married to Randy Tucker, and she has two sons, Will and Logan.
Polly Cowart - Martinez Elementary
Polly Cowart
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Cowart has been enjoying the thrill of the classroom environment for about 15 years. She is in her fourth year at Martinez Elementary. Her teaching experiences range from kindergarten to fifth grade, but she has found that her current position as a fourth-grade teacher is perfect. She and her husband have two children, Emily Ann and Lee.
"Being chosen Teacher of the Year from any school is an honor within itself, but being chosen from Martinez Elementary was especially exciting to me because the faculty there is so professional," she said.
Ashley Williams - North Columbia Elementary
Ashley Williams
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Williams teaches pre-kindergarten at North Columbia. This is her 16th year as a classroom teacher, and she has previously taught fourth, third and second grades. Williams earned a Master of Education degree in early childhood education from Augusta State University, and she hopes to complete her education specialist degree in curriculum and instruction in December.
"My greatest accomplishment in education has been adjusting my teaching style to meet the needs of my Pre-K students," she said.
Katherine LeAnne Gregg - North Harlem Elementary
Katherine LeAnne Gregg
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Gregg has been a third-grade teacher at North Harlem for four years. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Augusta State University. Gregg is married and expecting her first child in January.
"I was very excited and honored to have been chosen by my peers as Teacher of the Year for North Harlem," she said. "I find that the teaching profession is very rewarding personally and professionally."
Helene Hall - Riverside Elementary
Helene Hall
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Hall has been a teacher at Riverside Elementary for six years. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at Augusta State University. She is the mother of Perry Hall, who attends Georgia Military College.
"My reward as a teacher is when a student makes a connection that shows thoughtful processing of the knowledge learned," she said.
Ivey Coleman - South Columbia Elementary
Ivey Coleman
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Coleman has been teaching art for 12 years and at South Columbia for the past four years. She holds a Masters of Education degree in instructional technology from Troy State University, a Bachelor of Science degree in art education from Georgia College and State University, and an Associate of Science degree in graphic and industrial arts from Trident College. Coleman has been married for 14 years, and they have a 3-year-old daughter, Beth.
Coleman enjoys sharing her artistic skills and the love of art with her students.
Robin Chaly - Stevens Creek Elementary
Robin Chaly
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Robin Chaly has been teaching music for the past 17 years. Eleven of those years have been at Stevens Creek. She earned her bachelor's degree from Augusta College and completed graduate work at Kent State University in Ohio.
Chaly's husband of 25 years also teaches school in Columbia County. They have three children, Hannah, Oksana and Viktor.
"I look forward to seeing my students every day because I know that I have the opportunity to enhance, through music education, each child's ability to learn not only music, but science, math, social studies, language arts and foreign languages, too," she said.
Carolyn Griswold - Westmont Elementary
Carolyn Griswold
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Carolyn Griswold has been a fifth-grade teacher at Westmont Elementary for 19 years. Before teaching in Georgia, she worked in special education in Alabama. She earned a degree in speech pathology and later added a certification in elementary education. Griswold and her husband have two children, Stacy and Justin.
"I always loved going to school when I was growing up, and it seemed like the perfect career for me," she said.
Griswold said she feels truly honored to have been chosen by Westmont's faculty for the special distinction.
Mary Cleary - Columbia Middle
Mary Cleary
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Cleary has taught science at Columbia Middle for five years. Before teaching at Columbia Middle, she taught middle school for 16 years in Ohio. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of North Florida.
At Columbia Middle, she is the coach of the Science Olympiad team and the Academic Bowl and helps with the Drama Club. She and her husband, Don, have two grown children with their first grandchild on the way.
"It was such an honor to be chosen as teacher of the year by my fellow teachers," she said. "I love to bring new methods of learning to my students. We need to develop thinking skills in our children, so they will be prepared for the future, because they are the future."
Mary H. Harris - Evans Middle
Mary H. Harris
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Harris began her middle school teaching career after 14 years in private business. This year marks her 16th year teaching middle school and her seventh at Evans Middle. Harris enjoys teaching visual arts because every year brings lots of opportunities.
"It is an honor to be recognized by my peers, however I do not feel that I am any different from my colleagues," Harris said. "We all work equally hard to educate the students of Evans Middle School.
I am grateful for their support and encouragement, as well as that of my husband, Phil, my daughter, Anna, and my son, Sam."
Kemberly C. Carter - Grovetown Middle
Kemberly C. Carter
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Carter has been a teacher at Grovetown Middle since the 2002-2003 school year. Previously, Carter taught in Tift County, Ga. She has bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Valdosta State University and is pursuing an endorsement in gifted and talented education. Carter is in her 14th year of teaching at the middle school level.
"The wonderful thing about middle school students is their ability to make great strides emotionally and intellectually between sixth and eighth grades," she said.
Judy Kirkland - Harlem Middle
Judy Kirkland
Special photo
Judy Kirkland has been teaching for 30 years in Columbia County and is pleased to be Teacher of the Year again, her final year at Harlem Middle. She has taught several grade levels from Title I first grade to high school English, but has been teaching eighth-grade communication skills and Georgia studies for the past 15 years.
Kirkland works hard to connect readers with books of interest at appropriate levels and to create that spark that develops lifelong readers. She has her master's degree in reading and a specialist degree in communication skills from Augusta College.
Thomas Kirk - Lakeside Middle
Thomas Kirk
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Kirk has been an eighth-grade teacher at Lakeside Middle for the past five years. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia in social science education. Kirk's wife, Kelli, is a teacher at South Columbia Elementary.
"It was quite an honor to be chosen by my peers," he said. "I feel so blessed to work with such a supportive and caring staff. The best part of teaching is the interaction with the students. Each day is different and that is what keeps me on my toes."
Stacy Anton - Riverside Middle
Stacy Anton
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Anton has just entered her 10th year of teaching, the past six of those in Columbia County. She has taught at Harlem Middle, Stevens Creek Elementary and now Riverside Middle, where she teaches special needs students. Anton earned her undergraduate degree in special education at Georgia Southern University and continued her education at Cambridge College in Boston, where she obtained a Master of Education degree.
"I am truly honored to be selected by my peers as Teacher of the Year," she said.
Laotha Carswell - Evans High School
Laotha Carswell
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Carswell has been teaching family and consumer science in Columbia County for 25 years. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in family and consumer science and a master's degree in education. In 1995, Carswell started the ProStart Culinary Arts program in Columbia County. Carswell and her husband have two children.
"The greatest joy in teaching is when students, who have graduated from my program, return to thank me for helping them to achieve their goals in life," she said.
Teri Pettyjohn - Greenbrier High
Teri Pettyjohn
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Pettyjohn is a special education teacher and department chair at Greenbrier High. She has taught for eight years, spending the past six at Greenbrier High. An advocate of the exceptional-needs child, Pettyjohn has earned two degrees in the field of special education - a Bachelor of Science in mental retardation and a master's degree in interrelated disabilities.
She is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children and has served as a mentor teacher and on the Professional Standards Commission committee on standards for teachers seeking certification in reading.
Jon Johnson - Lakeside High
Jon Johnson
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Johnson has taught civics at Lakeside High School for the past 12 years. He earned his bachelor's degree from Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., and holds a master's degree from Troy State University. His responsibilities at Lakeside include being the school's Web publisher, serving as a teacher support specialist and devoting his afternoons and evenings to varsity football and baseball as an assistant coach. His wife also teaches at Lakeside High, and his children, Cameron and Caroline, are students at Riverside Elementary.
"I thrive on the opportunity that I have each day to impact the lives of children, and I am honored that my peers selected me as Lakeside's Teacher of the Year," he said.
Hattie Burke - Columbia County Board of Education Alternative School
Hattie Burke
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Burke has been an interrelated resource teacher for five years. She is in her third year at the Columbia County Alternative School. Before teaching in Columbia County, Burke taught interrelated resource at the Augusta Youth Detention Center. Burke received her bachelor's degree from the Medical College of Georgia and her master's degree from Augusta State University. She is pursuing her specialist degree through Cambridge College.
"It is an honor to have been chosen Teacher of the Year when you work among the finest staff in the system," she said.
TEACHER PROFILES COURTESY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR KAREN RIBBLE
Related Stories
· Teacher of the Year will be awarded during banquet
· Columbia County's 2005-06 Teachers of the Year
· The 2005-06 Media Specialist of the Year