Chamber to honor student, teachers of year

Staff

Published Friday, January 9, 2009

The Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce will present awards to one area student and three educators during its annual banquet Tuesday night.

Pleasant Home High School’s Ethan Aaron Henley has been named the Chamber’s student of the year. Henley is ranked first in his class.

Henley said his short-term goal is to graduate in May as PHS’s valedictorian. Long-term, he plans to attend the University of Alabama and pursue a law degree.

“Leadership skills are very evident in Ethan’s varied activities,” wrote PHS’s Margaret Sanders in her letter of recommendation. “He was the school’s Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Ambassador in 2007. Ethan was selected as a participant for the 2008 Alabama Governor’s School but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict with the Washington D.C. Youth Tour. He was also chosen as a Boys State Representative.”

She described him as a “conscientious, dependable leader who is also a well-rounded individual.”

His extracurricular activities include EnviroBowl and Envirothon. He serves as yearbook editor, vice president of the Student Council, president of the Sr. Beta Club, and treasurer of the senior class.

Henley is a member of the Ebenezer Baptist Church choir and has volunteered with Beda Baptist Church and with Operation Christmas Child.

Charlotte Holley is the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce’s elementary teacher of the year.

Holley, who teaches third grade at Pleasant Home School, is an 18-year veteran of education. Prior to joining the faculty at PHS four years ago, she taught at Conecuh County Junior High School and at Evergreen Junior High School.

Holley told the chamber’s selection committee that third grade can be a difficult transition for young students as they are encouraged to become more independent in their responsibilities.

“I like to take every opportunity I can to be creative in my teaching style,” she said. “With some classes, I have had great fun practicing our reading using small plays that are acted out in the classroom. I have used small group instruction for the past several years as directed by the Alabama Reading Initiative.”

Art is sometimes worked into lesson plans as part of the Alabama Math and Science Initiative.

“For example, they may show 9 x 2 = 18 by drawing nine butterflies with two wings each,” she said. “We use pattern blocks in geometry to create mosaics.”

In a letter of recommendation written by Sherry Kelley as part of Holley’s nomination, Kelley wrote, “Long after most teachers have left the buildings at the end of a school day, it is not unusual to go by Mrs. Holley’s classroom and find her still at work. She may be grading papers, preparing lesson plans, filing papers, working on a literacy center or simply tidying her room and organizing for the next day.”

Cassie Battey is the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce’s middle school teacher of the year.

Battey, who teaches science at Andalusia Elementary School, has nine years experience in education. She said she tries to address the learning styles of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners.

“In my classroom, a visual learner will learn subject content through the use of graphic organizers, overhead transparencies, computers, videos/DVD as well as content outline,” she said. “Also, in science, I use the Internet to bring outside information to the classroom. Through the use of computers, students are able to further their knowledge beyond the pages of a textbook.

“An auditory learner learns subject content through reading text aloud, class lecture and/or discussion,” she said. “Also, I ‘dramatize’ subject content as students participate in the dramatization and modeling.”

One learning experience students loved with the “Growing House Project,” in which they harvested seeds and used donated seeds to grow plants in the schools’ greenhouse. They also benefit from having visitors, like Andalusia’s horticulturist Vanessa Nelson and Tim Morgan, an avid scuba diver who shares video of his scuba adventures with students.

AMS principal Ted Watson said Battey “has a heart for her students and her enthusiasm shows every day.

“She is a self motivated, adventurous, organized and very dynamic teacher of sixth grade science,” Watson said.

Tamberli Dixon is the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce’s secondary teacher of the year.

Dixon, who has a dozen years experience in education, teaches Spanish at Straughn High School, where she also serves as a co-sponsor of the junior class and sponsors the Spanish Club. As a junior class sponsor, she is involved in hosting the school’s prom each year. The Spanish Club’s focus is participation in a Christmas charity program for the community’s elementary school students.

“We are busy planning and raising funds for our prom all year long,” she said. “It seems like over the last fine years (since my co-sponsor and I have been doing this) that the prom just keeps getting bigger and bigger! We put in a lot of hours after school and on the weekend to make it a night for our juniors and seniors to remember.”

While the prom is a fun social event, she said it’s also an educational project for students.

“The students learn to work together on a project of this magnitude,” she said. “We are able to utilize skills and talents of many different students who might not normally work together on something. I really enjoy the time spent on this project and feel that it brings the students closer together and is one more way to increase school spirit.”

SHS principal Shannon Driver wrote in a letter of recommendation that Dixon “has a knack for breaking down difficult concepts into understandable ideas.”

“Her students become very proficient in the Spanish language by the end of their course,” he said. “She also incorporates history and culture into every lesson. It is truly enjoyable to sit in her class and observe her at work.”