Media Specialist of the Year: Sonji Aycock

The oncoming computer age prompted Sonji Aycock to leave the classroom for the media center.

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Years later, the Harlem High School media specialist has so mastered the online resources available to students and teachers that she recently was named the Columbia County school system's Media Specialist of the Year.

"I was very interested in computers and how they were going to be able to function in schools," Aycock said. "Unfortunately, at the time I was in the classroom, there weren't a lot of computers around."

Still, Aycock saw that computers would change how children learn. So, after about 20 years of teaching, mostly in elementary grades, she returned to school to earn a degree in instructional technology.

"I got really interested in the technology that was coming out that children could access to help with research," she said.

Harlem High Assistant Principal Ellen Lewis said Aycock's computer expertise and helpful attitude have greatly benefited the school.

"She's been able to keep our computers up and going, and she's been a Godsend to me with helping with distribution of textbooks," Lewis said. "She's always been on top of things, and a pretty nice lady."

Before coming to Harlem High's media center five years ago, Aycock worked in the media centers at Washington-Wilkes High School and Spirit Creek Middle School.

Aycock said her job is helping students and teachers locate the resources they need to learn and educate more effectively.

"Having come from the classroom, I realize how limited a teacher's time is," she said. "If they can e-mail me and let me know what they're working on, I can start looking to see what I can find that might help them get their concepts across or enhance them."

Aycock also conducts freshman orientation classes, helping the high school newcomers, as well as older students, locate Web sites and search engines that provide data from legitimate sources for their school assignments.

"I feel I'm kind of a (public relations) person," she said. "I want children to come to us with any help they need, so it needs to be a nice, laid-back situation where they feel comfortable. That's one of the major things I do."

School officials will reward Aycock for her efforts during the Teacher of the Year Banquet on Thursday. She will now compete to become the District Media Specialist of the Year.

"I was very surprised, very flattered and very honored to be named," she said. "I know all the media specialists in Columbia County and they are a very elite group."