Polk County Teacher of the Year and School-Related Employee of the Year
2013 Polk County Teacher Of The Year
Virgina Watkins
Fourth Grade Teacher
Purcell Elementary
Known to many as “The Writing Guru,” Virginia says that there is not a program to teach writing, but rather, a combination of various techniques and approaches. She uses a variety of raps, songs, rhymes, hand motions, and sometimes even dancing, to help students remember and understand the lesson. Virginia is always open to share her tactics with her colleagues and teaches extra workshops for students that, her principal says, “motivate everyone in the room, including the administrators!” Looking for new ways to increase student achievement is very important to her, and she is known for her boundless pursuit of original ideas. Virginia feels that she has accomplished her education mission when “every child believes that he or she can achieve anything.”
2013 Polk County School-Related Employee Of The Year
Janice Wyatt
ESE Paraeducator
Churchwell Elementary
Janice’s commitment to student achievement is cultivated by the satisfaction of helping children reach their goals in education, which she says “is more than enough reward.” She is sensitive to her students’ unique capabilities, and develops and implements spelling cards, study guides, and take-home books for individual students. Janice is also an invaluable asset as the Fast ForWord program coordinator, whose students have gained, on average, over a year’s worth of progress in reading. Her progress monitoring chart for her students was so successful, the Fast ForWord representative used it as a model for others in the same program. Her principal describes her as “the SPARK that lights the fire of our students’ curiosity and love for learning!”
Past Polk County Teacher of the Year and School-Related Employee of the Year Winners »
List of 2013 Finalists
Virgina Watkins was chosen Teacher of the Year among the following teacher finalists:
- Gina Brackman, Highlands Grove Elementary
- Allison Crutchfield, Laurel Elementary
- Rebecca Hensley, Jewett Academy
- Mallory Mannix, Chain of Lakes Elementary
- Keri Murphy, Padgett Elementary
- Amanda Condra, Kathleen Middle
Janice Wyatt was named School-Related Employee of the Year among the following school-related finalists:
- Mercedes Haedo-Fitzsimmons, Highlands Grove Elementary
- Cheryl Hopkins, Brigham Academy
- Magda Landron, Horizons Elementary
- Helen Manear, Bartow Elementary Academy
- Barbara Smith, Lake Gibson Middle
- Leslie Roberts, Ben Hill Griffin Jr. Elementary
List of 2013 Honorees
2013 Polk County Teacher and School-Related Employee of the Year Honorees »
2013 Teacher of the Year and School-Related Employee of the Year Sponsors
Platinum Sponsor:
- Regal Lakeland
Premiere Sponsor:
- MIDFLORIDA Credit Union
Gold Sponsors:
- ARAMARK
- Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Florida
- Boswell & Dunlap
- Bright House Networks
- Mosaic
- Publix Super Markets Charities
- TECO Energy
Bronze Sponsors:
- Bank of America
- Ben Hill Griffin, Inc.
- Citizen's Bank & Trust
- Lakeland Electric
- Polk Education Association
- Polk Education Foundation
- Polk State College
- Progress Energy
- SunTrust
- Warner University
In-Kind Sponsor:
- Ledger Media Group