Schools celebrate Teachers of the Year

White County School System will announced the 2020-21 school system teacher of the year at its meeting on Thursday, March 25, at the White County Middle School gym.

Candidates for the honor were named teachers of the year for each of the system’s schools. Those include Rachel Fowler (Tesnatee Gap Elementary School), Mandy Nash (White County High School), Susan Sargent (Mossy Creek Elementary School), Kaitlin Sosebee (Mount Yonah Elementary School), Wayne Wilkes (White County Middle School) and Jacob Williams (Jack P. Nix Elementary School).

The White County News recently spoke with these teachers for the following profiles.

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Rachel Fowler – Tesnatee Gap Elementary School

Rachel Fowler knew from a young age she wanted to be a teacher.

“I have nine nieces and nephews, and one of my nephews struggled in speech,” she said. “In kindergarten, he was having a lot of problems with pronouncing words and knowing his letters and things like that, and by the time he was in kindergarten I was in high school. So that’s when it really showed me. I started working with him and helping him, and I also went into his classroom and worked with is teacher and I knew from that moment that’s what I wanted to do. Because I just enjoyed helping him and he had a struggle, so I wanted to help him improve that. I work with SPED kids with learning disabilities in my other classroom. So that’s just where my hearts at is helping those kids that have disabilities.”

Fowler is currently a fourth grade English/language arts teacher at Tesnatee Gap Elementary School. She is in her fifth year of teaching, all of which have been at TGES. She’s been a fourth grade teacher for three years and had previously spent two years teaching fifth grade.

“I love fourth grade. They’re so fun,” she said.

When she found out she was the school’s teacher of the year, Fowler said she was shocked because she’s only in her fifth year of teaching.

“I felt undeserving because there’s a lot of other teachers in this building who have more experience that I have even learned from, so it was hard for me to see myself get it when I learned from them,” she said. “I just felt undeserving, but I’m thankful, I’m honored to represent my school.”

With the craziness of the coronavirus pandemic, Fowler said that a key to keeping students motivated is to have a good relationship with them.

“I think if you build that solid relationship with them where they know you care for them both academically and personally, then they’re motivated to work for you. I think there’s respect and a relationship and that is what increases motivation.”

As for what she enjoys most about teaching, it’s the connection with her students.

“That’s the best part to me. I love the academic part of it because that’s what they need for the future and I feel like I’m setting up our future society,” she said. “But to me, getting to know them and just building the relationship, and having fun with them. I am about the grades and I want them to do well, but the way I get them to do well is to have fun in the classroom.”

Fowler is from Ellijay and graduated from Gilmer County High School in 2012. She has degrees from Truett McConnell University.

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Mandy Nash – White County High School

Mandy Nash, a math teacher at White County High School, became an educator because she loves the subject and loves teaching kids.

“I love being a role model for [students], pushing them,” she said. “I love watching them grow and learn and become adults.”

Nash started teaching in 2005. During her career she’s taught at Tallulah Falls School, North Hall High School and White County High School, where she now teaches Algebra 1, geometry and college algebra.

Nash said she was not expecting the school’s teacher of the year honor.

“I was honored, surprised, totally unexpected,” she said. “Then, after it kind of sunk in, I’m very honored that my co-workers would vote for me.”

One of the challenges she’s faced this year with teaching amid the pandemic was getting students motivated to work from home.

“The challenging part was what I’m teaching I would have to teach virtually,” she said. “I would have to post it. I would have to video, a lot of extra work and on top of that, trying to track down the kids that aren’t showing up to class virtually.”

To keep students motivated during the pandemic, she said she focuses on staying positive.

“I help them find a positive in what it is they’re not wanting to do,” she said.

Nash said seeing her students succeed is what she enjoys most about teaching.

“Sometimes it takes a little while, sometimes they have to repeat, but I really enjoy seeing the students be successful.”

Nash is from White County and graduated from White County High School in 2002. She has a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Piedmont College.

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Susan Sargent – Mossy Creek Elementary School

Susan Sargent, a fifth grade teacher at Mossy Creek Elementary School, was inspired to become an educator by her own elementary school teachers.

“I just loved my teachers and couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.

Sargent has been teaching for 25 years, all of which have been in White County. She began her career at White County Elementary School, then Mt. Yonah Elementary School, then went to the intermediate school for a year before coming to MCES when it opened.

Sargent said she was surprised to learn she was the school’s teacher of the year.

“Mrs. Funk and Ms. Sills and Mr. Gerrells brought roses to my classroom and announced it,” Sargent said. “I definitely think with what we’ve got going on this year and the end of last year, we all need the recognition and the accolades with being teacher of the year.”

With everything that has happened over the past year, Sargent said she tries to make things fun to keep her students motivated.

“I think just try to make it fun and let them see you’re just like them,” she said. “You go to ball games and you have a life outside of school. You may not like what you’re doing at times, but we’ve got to it.”

Sargent added that the biggest challenge this year is balancing students quarantining, teaching them in-person and making sure they stay 6 feet apart and are social distancing.

As for what she enjoys most about teaching, Sargent said it’s her co-workers and students.

“The teachers that are on my hallway, especially my fifth grade team, because they make coming to work fun,” she said. “Then when we get to plan together, and the kids actually enjoy what we’re doing and when they laugh at stuff that we do, you know they’re having fun.”

Sargent is from Cleveland and graduated from White County High School in 1990. She has degrees from Truett McConnell, the University of Georgia, and the University of North Georgia.

Kaitlin Sosebee – Mount Yonah Elementary School

Helping others learn is what Kaitlin Sosebee, a fourth grade teacher at Mount Yonah Elementary School, enjoys most about teaching.

“I enjoy a lot of aspects about it, because I do love the technology side,” she said. “I love helping other teachers. I think that’s my favorite. It’s helping them see that they have so much potential inside their classroom and their resources at hand; I want to be the person that helps them see that potential and present it to them. And the kids are just fun … I love the conversations with kids. When they finally understand something … literally their eyes light up.”

Sosebee said her mom was a teacher, so she spent a lot of time at school when she was younger. But she recently had another realization about teaching.

“It wasn’t until recently that I realized I got into teaching because these kids … they believe anything and everything,” Sosebee said.  “That imagination that they have, they truly think I can be a doctor and Superman at the same time. To be able to live life like a kid does, there’s just something about that.”

When she found out she was teacher of the year, Sosebee said she was surprised, because with everything that has gone on with the pandemic, she felt everyone deserved it.

This year, Sosebee is teaching both in-person classes and digital distance classes. Balancing the two types of teaching has been interesting for her, she said.

“It’s hard to motivate students online, no matter what you do, because at some point, they’re in charge of what they do on the other side of that screen,” she said. “Parent communication has been good this year, so that hasn’t been negative. But I would just say that screen has been a barrier this year, unfortunately.”

As for how she keeps students motivated, she said she remembers that they are kids and need to be kids. She added that if a break is needed, they take it.

“We love to dance in my room,” she said. “I think that’s our favorite thing to do. If things are not looking too hot, we stop, we take a break and we dance.”

Sosebee is from Clarkesville and graduated from Habersham Central High School in 2010. She has degrees from the University of North Georgia and Valdosta State University, and is currently working on her specialist from the University of West Georgia. She began teaching at MYES in 2017 and she currently teaches reading and writing. 

Wayne Wilkes – White County Middle School

Wayne Wilkes didn’t start his career out in teaching. In fact, he was originally the associate director of admission at Truett McConnell, he said. But his friends always told him he was a teacher.

“While a lot of my friends were playing golf in the afternoon, I was visiting historic sites and museums, and I talked a lot about it, and I always read histories and biographies,” he said. “…My wife is an elementary school teacher, and about that same time, because I have a master of divinity, I started teaching some college classes first. I did find that yes, I had the bug.”

He eventually moved to White County Elementary School, where he taught for two years before he ended up at White County Middle School.

“I went sixth grade, eighth grade and then moved to seventh grade,” Wilkes said. I’m finishing up my career in seventh grade.”

As for why social studies, Wilkes said he has a love for history. In fact, his parents bought him a set of pictorial encyclopedias of American history, and he read them between seventh and eighth grade. He added that both his parents worked for the government, so he was very aware of politics and government most of his life.

When he found out he was teacher of the year, Wilkes was surprised.

“It is rare that I’m ever speechless, but I was speechless,” Wilkes said. “I didn’t think I would, I don’t know, it just never occurred to me that I would be teacher of the year. I could tell you a whole lot of people in this building that I believe they’re a lot better teachers than I am.”

With everything going on with the coronavirus pandemic, Wilkes said having a student-teacher has helped keep the kids motivated, especially with virtual learning because they help him learn about technology. He added that when he’s teaching, he asks himself how would he like to learn the topic.

“Not that you knock it out of the park every single time, but it’s a rare thing that I ever have a student say ‘I’m bored,’” Wilkes said. “My class has some consistency. There’s certain things we do – there’s a routine. But I don’t ever want them to think every day is just the same. You want to respect learning styles and realize that just because it’s your learning style, it may not be [their learning style].”

As for what he enjoys most about teaching, Wilkes said it’s the students.

“I’m now at the point where I’m teaching students of students,” Wilkes said. “So that’s fun to know that I knew your parents when they were this age and what they were like. And I’ve spent my entire career in one place, that’s so rewarding.”

Wilkes graduated from Mary Persons High School in 1979. He also has degrees Truett McConnell, Mercer, Southeastern Baptist, the University of North Georgia, and Lincoln Memorial.

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Jacob Williams – Jack P. Nix Elementary School

Jacob Williams came to Jack P. Nix Elementary School as the music teacher in 2017, right out of college.

“I love teaching,” Williams said. “Originally I thought that I might be in a high school and that might be where I end up. Yet again, this was completely unexpected, and when I landed this job I was a little nervous. But after realizing that with this age group, especially in music, everyday is play. Everyday is fun. So I get to play as they learn, of course.”

Learning he was teacher of the year was unexpected, Williams said.

“I was honored, yet extremely humbled,” he said. “I know that there are tons of teachers in this building I could say earned this, especially during this year. It’s been a challenging year for every educator. But I was honored to be selected.”

With the coronavirus pandemic, Williams had to look for new ways to teach and engage students.

“Well, you have to rewrite the book,” he said. “I would say that, and it’s a constant battle of wanting to make things fun and entertaining, and always a game. This year, even in their individual spots as you can see laid out in the classroom, having many exercised throughout or dances and things just to keep them up and active is going to be the main thing for engagement.”

As for what he enjoys most about teaching, Williams said he it’s the music and his students.

“I am a musician myself, so I love my subject matter” Williams said. “But most of all I love my children. They’re little people and I get to be a part of their lives … I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Teaching – you don’t just teach, you are involved in their lives.”

As for how he found out he was teacher of the year, Williams said it involved donuts and his wife.

“She’s a kindergarten teacher [at JPNES], so they wanted her to be a part,” he said. “I was about to eat lunch and she came down and gave me this big, long drawn-out story about why I needed to come down and help her in her classroom. So I had to put down my pizza … I went down there, and everybody was in there and they handed me donuts.”

Williams is from the Madison, Georgia, area. He graduated from Morgan County High School in 2014, and graduated from Truett McConnell University in 2017 with a degree in music education.

Originally, Williams had no plans to become a teacher and instead wanted to be a music minister, he said.

“My father told me I needed to get a music education degree for a backup plan, and it turned out my backup plan was my first plan,” Williams said. “So I was able to land this job right after college and it turned out to be the greatest joy… I wouldn’t change it for the world.”