The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District held its awards ceremony Tuesday, presenting awards to nominated faculty and staff.
Starkville High School biology teacher Michael Adam was named the district’s teacher of the year, making him eligible to win the same honor at the state level. Adam has taught at SHS for five years, and before that, taught at the Columbus Alternative School. This was Adam’s first time being nominated for the award.
“No matter what I do during the day, my job is to educate students,” Adam said. “In order to educate students, you have to build relationships with them, let them know you care about them, then they buy into what you do in the classroom.”
Adam serves as a mentor for students entering the science fair and as a sponsor of the SHS Excalibur Science Fair Club. Adam also works as chair of the district’s faculty advisory committee.
Adam originally hoped to be a physical therapist, and ended up with a sociology degree, working as a sociologist at Mississippi State University.
“I had kind of had in the back of my mind, the idea of becoming a teacher, because I have teachers in my family, and I’m so very glad I that did,” Adam said. “I could not imagine a much more rewarding career.”
Winning Teacher of the Year at the district level nominates Adam to win the award at the state level through the Mississippi Department of Education.
“You can tell the love he has for his students,” SHS Principal Sean McDonnall said of Adam. “I’m just very excited for him to get this award, and he’s very deserving.”
Other nominees for teacher of the year included Leslie Hunt and Brooke Corban from Sudduth Elementary, Britteny Taylor, Stella Turman and Julie McKenzie from Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary, TaNaya Bluitt from Overstreet Elementary, Debora Brown from West Elementary, Tonya Barnes from Armstrong Middle School. Nikki Bus, Wanda Kirkwood and Vera Myles from Starkville High School, Randy Carlisle from Millsaps Career and Technology Center and LeAnn Ibarra from the Emerson Family School.
Other winners included:
* Parent of the Year, Cassandra Palmer, Sudduth Elementary.
* Certified Personnel of the Year, Laura Harris, Henderson Ward Stewart.
* Non-Certified Personnel of the Year, Ettaronda Hogan, Greensboro Center.
* Administrator of the Year, Elizabeth Mosley, Sudduth Elementary.
* Outstanding New Teacher, Christina Reynolds, Sudduth Elementary.