Holmes County District Schools recognizes 2021 Teacher of the Year chipleypaper.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chipleypaper.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Lehigh Middle’s Teresa Rigdon named Educational Support Person of the Year
By MEGHAN BRADBURY - | Feb 17, 2021
Teresa Rigdon. PHOTO PROVIDED
The desire to help, heal and share her love with people has earned Lehigh Acres Middle School’s Teresa Rigdon. the honor of Educational Support Person of the Year for the School District of Lee County.
“My reaction when I was surprised, was surreal. I was just so amazed that I was being rewarded for something that I am so passionate about. I do not look at my work in terms of ‘work,’ income or reward,” said Rigdon, a peer mediation counselor. “I show up each day hoping to help one or two people and I leave knowing I helped much more than that. I was honored to represent our LAMS family and appreciative of the support and recognition of my co-workers and the district. It truly takes a village and I have been blessed to work alongside so many caring people who strive to change the culture of our schools and for the betterment of
Lake unveils finalists for top rookie teacher, school related employee dailycommercial.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailycommercial.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Maude Graham, 40, a third-grade teacher at Rosabelle Blake Academy, was named Teacher of the Year for her incorporation of hands-on reading and writing activities, including scavenger hunts, rope climbing excursions and other out-of-the-box lessons. She also shares her life story with various groups, serves as a mentor, organizes parent/teacher events and spearheads a leadership program for third- through fifth-graders called “Leader in Me.”
Lisa Gill, a paraeducator at Jesse Keen Elementary School in Lakeland, was named School-Related Employee of the Year. She oversees the school s weekend backpack distribution program to make sure students have enough to eat. Following Hurricane Irma, she worked with First United Methodist Church to create a food and supply bank at the school and helped find housing for families whose homes were damaged.
LAKELAND By the time Maude Graham was just 9 years old, she had lost both of her parents and struggled to read. She decided to go into teaching to help students who were like her in school.
“I learned that teachers were progressing me because I was young and fragile, wide-eyed, eager to learn and very obedient,” Graham told Polk County Public School officials. “Knowing this, I always wanted to become the teacher who taught students who struggled as I had. I always dreamt of teaching students reading strategies, no matter the circumstances that stood in their way.”
Now 40 years old, Graham was named the Polk County Public Schools 2021 Teacher of the Year on Thursday night at a scaled-back ceremony at the RP Funding Center.