The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce recognized the area's top teachers Thursday at its annual Teacher of the Year Banquet at Poplar Bluff High School.
The Chamber honored six teachers from teachers from Three Rivers College, Poplar Bluff R-1 and Westwood Baptist Academy for their hard work and dedication to their students.
Steve Halter, President of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce, was happy that everyone was able to gather after more than a year of battling the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled last year's banquet.
“We were super excited about the turnout and proud of what all of our school teachers, administrators and students have endured these last 12 months,” Halter said.
Cathy Burnett was named the 2021-22 Eugene Field, elementary grade level and District Teacher of the Year. She has been teaching for 27 years, and for 14 years with the R-I school district. She currently co-teaches first and second grade special education at Eugene Field.
Burnett said she became a teacher because she likes to work with kids.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for special ed kids because they need lots of patience and love,” Burnett said.
She reminds other teachers that students need lots of love and patience and they need to be taught the values “that we were taught as kids.”
“And also, you need to be flexible because a lot of times, a lot of days, I have beautiful plans — and within five minutes they will go out the door,” Burnett said. “So you need to be flexible.”
Christine East was named the Poplar Bluff Junior High Teacher of the Year and middle school grade level Teacher of the Year. She has been a teacher for 20 years with the R-I school district and teaches eighth-grade English at PBJHS.
East said her love of teaching was born when she taught Sunday school at her church.
“I saw the passion I knew that I had for teaching, and knew that I could pass on some positive outlooks on life and culture,” East said.
East said the greatest words of wisdom she has are to be open minded.
“Know that every child comes from an absolutely different background and no background is the same,” East said. “When I get into the classroom, I don’t immediately start off with a lesson — I want to get to know my kids and then I teach my lessons toward their backgrounds (and) who they are.”
Pamela Davis was named the Poplar Bluff High School Teacher of the Year as well as secondary grade-level Teacher of the Year. She teaches business at PBHS, including entrepreneurship, business management, personal finance and business law.
Davis credits her grandmother for inspiring her to become a teacher.
“Whenever she passed away I was like, ‘What can I do to keep her alive?’” Davis said. “And I just sat and thought about it and it was like, “Well, you have to go where the kids are.’ … My grandma was like grandma to the whole neighborhood — she wasn’t grandma to just us.”
Davis advises her fellow teachers whatever they do matters.
“You’re probably going to fail, you’re going to mess up and it’s going to be horrible,” Davis said. “I’ve done it 100 times, but kids need to see that failure — and they need to see how you can come back stronger from that failure and do it better the next time, because you just can’t be afraid to fail.”
Wes Montgomery is the Three Rivers College recipient of the Adjunct of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching and teaches English and college writing for TRC.
Montgomery was inspired to teach by his college professors.
“I have medical issues and I couldn’t do (my previous job) anymore, so I needed to do something else,” Montgomery said. “I went to college and I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but a lot of the professors I had inspired me, and they helped me along the way, — and I felt like something worthwhile that I could do would be to help others, and teaching seemed like a natural fit for that.”
Montgomery said teaching requires the willingness to adjust.
“No matter how much you prepare, how long you spend time preparing, sometimes it just doesn’t work,” Montgomery said. “You have to be able to read the room and see how much students are getting this, so I have to approach it a different way. … Be aware of what’s happening and be willing to adjust what you’re doing.”
Stephanie Rundquist is TRC’s recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. She currently teaches third and fourth-semester nursing students at Three Rivers.
Ironically, neither teaching nor nursing was her first career choice — her father encouraged her to go to nursing school, and after her first career choice did not pan out, Rundquist took his advice.
Rundquist’s words of wisdom are to not give up and to keep going in one’s career choice.
“There are students’ lives that need to be changed and will be changed because of you, so don’t give up and don’t let any failures set you back,” Rundquist said. “There are no secrets to success. Success takes time, it takes patience, it takes preparation and it also takes learning from your failures.”
Mike Morris is the Westwood Baptist Academy Teacher of the Year. He currently teaches math for grades 7-8 and 10-12, Bible for grades 9-11 and physical education classes at the school.
Morris decided to become a teacher to be a positive influence in the lives of the children.
Morris encourages teachers to learn to love their students.
“Not all students are lovable at times — a lot of them probably aren’t even likable at times, but I remember a quote that I heard years ago that said ‘people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,’” Morris said. “And if we can let the students know that we sincerely care about them, I think it’ll make a difference in their lives.”
Poplar Bluff R-I teachers from each building in the district were also recognized at the banquet with a plaque.
Those included Michelle Caswell, Poplar Bluff Early Childhood Center; Mary Barousse, Poplar Bluff Kindergarten Center; Leslie Riefle, Lake Road; Staci Barker, Oak Grove; Kristi Sittig, Poplar Bluff Middle School; Brandon Moon, Technical Career Center; Christina Spencer, O'Neal; and Laura Powell, Mark Twain School.
Editor’s note: Area teachers of the year are being featured in separate stories appearing in April and May.