When assistant principal Cassie Stegall walked up to English Department Chair Mindy May in the middle of her first period holding a sign and sash, May started tearing up.
May was awarded “Teacher of the Year” by Principal Chris Choat surrounded by assistant principals, English teachers and her entire Dual Credit English 3 class today after being nominated and voted for by the faculty.
“I just feel really humbled because I know there’s a lot of other great educators here on our campus, and so it’s just definitely an honor to be selected from all of them,” May said.
Every campus selects a “Teacher of the Year” by the faculty nominating a teacher. The administration then takes those names and sends them to the staff to vote for one.
“This is a recognition from her peers, not just the administrative group,” Choat said.
May said while she knew she made the final four of the teachers nominated, she didn’t expect to win.
“I felt just really grateful to work in a place where people know who you are and they care enough about you to make those those recognitions of all that you do every day,” May said.
Choat said May was an amazing choice based on what he’s heard from past and current students.
“She’s not only an amazing teacher in the classroom, but she’s our department head and our English department is functioning at a very high level because of her leadership,” Choat said. “So I think we absolutely got it right.”
English teacher Elyse McKinney spoke a few words about what it’s like working with May since she’s been best friends with her for years and wanted a part in celebrating her.
“She’s an amazing educator, colleague, department head,” McKinney said. “She absolutely deserves the award. And I was very excited that other people knew how awesome she is too.”
McKinney said after working with her for years, she noticed that May goes out of her way to help students and colleagues along with always something extra to help other people be successful.
Junior Kylee Sartain said May is the kindest teacher she’s ever had and she really likes her teaching style.
“I always feel comfortable to go up to her and ask questions and she makes the classroom feel like a safe environment,” Sartain said.
McKinney said she knows the English department is going to be excited to have an “awesome representative” who is exactly what they love.
“They’re just so excited for her and it’s going to bring the whole campus up because she is known, she is loved and she’s cared for,” McKinney said.
Choat said having a Teacher of the Year speaks to the teacher’s effectiveness of the classroom and to the relationship with students and the staff who voted for her.
May said having a Teacher of the Year reminds our community that education has a lot of value and we need to support teachers as best we can in that as well.
The next step is for a committee to come to her classroom to observe then could potentially name her as the “Richardson Learning Community Secondary Teacher of the Year.”
“That would be our goal for her and our next step next year,” Choat said.
