Cartersville Celebrates 2018 Teachers Of The Year

CARTERSVILLE, GA — The Cartersville City School System has announced its Teachers of the Year for 2018. Four teachers, one each at Cartersville Primary, Elementary, Middle and High schools, were recognized Tuesday during an awards luncheon. The names were also posted on the system's Facebook page.

Leighanne Young was named Teacher of the Year at Cartersville Primary School. According to the system, Young believes educating her students about courage is an "invaluable lesson."

"Let's teach our kids to be fearlessly authentic, to be fearless in times met with ambiguity, to be brave in all they do, brave when they meet new people and fearless when they fail," she said Tuesday.

According to Cartersville Primary School's website, she has 19 years of experience in the classroom. She received her bachelor's degree from Troy State University. She also has a master's degree in educational leadership, an educational specialist degree in administration and leadership and an English Speakers of Other Language endorsement.

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Cartersville Elementary School named Shannon Suarez, a physical education teacher, as its Teacher of the Year. Principal Melissa Bates said Suarez's caring and concern for her students "extends beyond the classroom" to embrace their needs for trust and encouragement. Suarez has a bachelor's degree in health and physical education from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, the CES website states. She obtained her master's degree in physical education (with a coaching pedagogy concentration) from SUNY Cortland.

Sara Bright was chosen by her peers at Cartersville Middle School as their top educator. Bright, according to the system, believes establishing and maintaining relationships are the biggest factors in motivating students.

“When students know I care about them and I try my best to relate to the realities of their lives, we begin to build a relationship of trust," she added, according to the system's Facebook page.

According to Cartersville Middle School's website, Bright obtained her bachelor's degree in education from Shorter College in 2002. She earned her master's in education from Jacksonville State University in 2005. She spent 12 years at Pepperell Middle School in Lindale before coming to Cartersville City Schools.

Last, but certainly not least, is Dr. Kim Foster representing Cartersville High School. Dr. Foster believes classroom teachers are given plenty of opportunities to influence the lives of their students.

“We have a great responsibility and ability to impact children every day when they step into our classrooms," she added. "Every interaction, every word spoken, every lesson designed, and every unit developed must be intentionally created with our students in mind."

Cartersville High School's website states Dr. Foster earned a bachelor's degree in English: Secondary Education from Louisiana State University in 2007 and a master's of education in Language and Literacy Education from the University of Georgia in 2010. She obtained her doctorate of education in Secondary English Education in 2016 from Kennesaw State University in 2016.

From left to right are: Shannon Suarez, Dr. Kim Foster, Leighanne Young and Sara Bright. Credit: Cartersville City Schools