Hampton Roads’ teachers of the year: How they approach their ‘calling’ to education
At Suffolk’s College and Career Academy at Pruden, students in Rhonda Culpepper’s early childhood education class knew something exciting was about to happen when Superintendent John Gordon showed up unannounced, gift basket in hand, followed by other school leaders.
He was there to tell her that she’d been selected city-wide Teacher of the Year. Culpepper started crying and her students rushed to hug and congratulate her.
“I knew it was going to happen eventually,” said Hailey “Daniel” Owens, a senior from Kings Fork High School and one of Culpepper’s students. Owens, like the rest of the class, said Culpepper is one of the most caring teachers Owens ever had. She listens to her students, takes an interest in them and is there for them whenever they need it.
Culpepper’s students are her “babies,” she said. Every day, Culpepper tries to support and help them be successful in the future even if they do not go into early childhood education.
Each year, school divisions across the state recognize teachers like Culpepper. All were commended for their dedication to their students.
Other district-wide teachers of the year are Melissa Hales, a special education teacher at Crossroads School, Norfolk; JoAnna Wilson-Jones, an eighth-grade math teacher at Syms Middle School, Hampton; Paula Hernadez, a kindergarten teacher at W.T. Cooke Elementary School, Virginia Beach; Akilah Parker, a counselor at Simonsdale Elementary School, Portsmouth; Chanda Woods, sixth-grade integrated language arts teacher at Crittenden Middle School, Newport News; and Alyssa May, second-grade teacher at Butts Road Primary, Chesapeake.
“Teaching is not just a profession; it is a calling,” Parker said in her application for Teacher of the Year. “It is a calling to inspire, to guide and to empower the next generation.”
Each of the teachers said their job is more than standing in front of a classroom and teaching the core subjects. It is about getting students to engage with the subjects and develop skills to help them become productive members of the community later in life.
Woods, the sixth-grade language arts teacher, said she considers herself more of a “facilitator of education.” She works with her students to research and find answers for themselves to make them “participants in their own learning.” Some of her best days include moments in which she and her students discuss and even argue about the correct answers because it shows how they get engaged.
The teachers of the year had great influences, including the teachers who taught them.
“So many teachers made a big difference in my life as well, so I just knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Hales said.
Hales’ grandmother was a teacher at Norfolk Public Schools for 30 years. Hales, the special education teacher, has been teaching for 25 and her goal is to continue to improve each day and “stay on top of the latest and greatest” in teaching alongside the community.
All teachers are required to do professional development. May, the second-grade teacher, helps her colleagues by hosting “office hours,” in which they work through issues and find resources, as well as facilitating training on relevant topics. To her, teaching is a “collaborative effort.”
“It starts with the teachers,” May said. “We all need to be on the same page and really work together.”
Hernandez is from Colombia and teaches the majority of her Cooke Elementary class in Spanish as a dual language immersion teacher. According to a press release, she established the two-way Spanish dual immersion program to help address academic gaps among English language learners. She also integrates her culture and background, teaching students how to make Colombian arepas, a traditional meal, as a teaching tool for math, writing and science.
Wilson-Jones, the teacher at Syms Middle, said it is important to be authentic in front of the students. Her goal is to build relationships with her students and listen to their interests to better connect them with lessons.
“I’m that teacher where I’m my true self and I have a space that allows my kids to be safe, and they feel comfortable,” Wilson-Jones said.
At Simonsdale Elementary, Parker also believes in supporting students by guiding them and fostering an environment in which students want to become learners. It’s a “journey,” she said in her application, and it is one she takes alongside her students.
Each teacher will have the opportunity to apply for the regional teacher of the year and, potentially, be named Virginia’s teacher of the year for 2025.
Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com
