Lisa Godwin, an Onslow County
kindergarten teacher, was named the 2017 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina
Teacher of the Year during an awards luncheon today in Cary. Godwin was
selected from a field of nine finalists representing the state’s eight
education districts and charter schools.
Godwin is now in her third
year teaching at Dixon Elementary School in Holly Ridge, where she returned to
the classroom in 2014 after working as an assistant principal for four and a
half years in Onslow and Lee county schools.
State Superintendent Mark
Johnson, who announced this year’s winner, said Godwin represents the very best
talent in North Carolina’s schools, measuring her own success by that of her students
– regardless of where they start – and seeing public education as the nation’s
open door to opportunity and life success.
“Every day, Lisa gives her
students the support and encouragement that lay an essential foundation for
them to keep learning across the grades and beyond,” Johnson said. “She reaches
out to their parents to build trust and reinforce learning in the home, and she
leads her colleagues with respect and by example.”
As 2017 Teacher of the Year,
Godwin succeeds last year’s recipient, Bobbie Cavnar, an English and journalism
teacher at South Point High School in Gaston County. The teacher of the year is
chosen by a committee of professional educators as well business and community
leaders. The state selection committee members are chosen based on their active
public record in support of education.
John Burris, president of the
Burroughs Wellcome Fund, said the foundation is proud to support an award that
recognizes an education professional who has risen to the top of the field by a
passionate commitment to his or her students.
“The recipient of this award
serves as a role model to students and peers in this critical professional
field," Burris said.
Godwin finished high school
thinking she wanted to be a nurse, and attended Sandhills Community College in
pursuit of that goal. But it wasn’t until her twin sons were starting school
several years later that she decided on teaching instead, taking a job in 1997 as
a teacher assistant at Tramway Year Round Elementary School in Sanford. She
later earned her teaching degree from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in
Laurinburg and taught kindergarten for three years at Deep River Elementary
School in Sanford.
After earning a master’s
degree in school administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill in 2009, she served as assistant principal at J. Glenn Edwards Elementary
School in Sanford and Meadow View Elementary School in Jacksonville.
She explained in her
nomination submission that she chose to return to teaching from administration because
she believed she could have a greater impact in the classroom.
“I truly missed the daily,
positive interaction with my own classroom of students,” she wrote, “and knew
that I could be a greater change agent from within.”
Godwin is a mentor teacher at
Dixon Elementary, supporting new teachers, and serves on a number of Onslow
County Schools groups, including the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee, the
Every Student Succeeds Act Committee and the district’s Quality Council. She’s
an active member of the Surf City Baptist Church and is involved with a number
of community organizations and charitable events, some sponsored by the surf
shop that she and her husband own in Surf City.
As with other regional
finalists, Godwin was first recognized this school year as teacher of the year
at her school and district.
As Burroughs Wellcome Fund
North Carolina Teacher of the Year, Godwin will spend the next school year
traveling the state as an ambassador for the teaching profession. She will
receive the use during the year of a state vehicle, leased from Flow
Automotive, LLC, the opportunity to attend a seminar at the NC Center for the Advancement
of Teaching (NCCAT), a mobile device from Lenovo valued at approximately
$1,600, an engraved vase, a one-time cash award of $7,500, a trip to the
National Teacher of the Year Conference and International Space Camp, and the
opportunity to travel abroad through an endowment sponsored by Go Global NC.
Godwin also will serve as an
advisor to the State Board of Education for two years and as a board member for
the NC Public School Forum for one year. In addition, the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction will sponsor her enrollment and completion of
the Public School Forum’s Education Policy Fellowship Program.
The other regional finalists
were:
- Northeast: Amy Parker, Hertford Grammar
(Perquimans County Schools);
- North Central: Miles Macleod, Heritage
High (Wake County Schools);
- Sandhills: Juandalynn Ray, Sampson Middle
(Clinton City Schools);
- Piedmont-Triad: Adam Reeder, Asheboro High
(Asheboro City Schools);
- Southwest: Anthony Johnson, Jr., Isenberg
Elementary (Rowan-Salisbury Schools);
- Northwest: Carrie Franklin, Glenwood
Elementary (McDowell County Schools);
- Western: Leslie Schoof, Madison Early
College High (Madison County Schools); and
- Charter Schools: Deborah Brown, Research
Triangle High (Research Triangle Park).
North Carolina has recognized
outstanding teachers through its Teacher of the Year program since 1970. For
more information on North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year recognition program,
visit the program’s website. You also can follow the North Carolina Teacher of the Year
finalists on Twitter at #NCTOYPOY.
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