District Five announces Teacher of the Year finalists
March 25, 2015
IRMO, SC – Lexington-Richland School District Five has named finalists for its 2015-2016 Teacher of the Year award. The finalists are: Christopher Craft, a technology teacher at CrossRoads Middle School; Megan Drayton, a fifth grade teacher at Dutch Fork Elementary School; and Kevin Hebert, a band teacher at Chapin High School. The district Teacher of the Year will be announced May 20.
District Five Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hefner said, “District Five has many great educators, and our three finalists represent the best of what we have to offer. These educators go above and beyond to ensure that the educational experience for our students is the best that it can be. We congratulate the finalists and thank them for all they do to make District Five successful.”
Craft has nine years of teaching experience at CrossRoads Middle School. He has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of South Carolina, a master’s degree in educational technology and a doctoral degree in educational psychology and research. “Teachers serve as a beacon of light and hope for our children…Teachers provide a human connection to learning to guide our children in the pursuit of destiny,” Craft said. “It is thanks to a teacher that a student will realize his or her capacity to truly impact a neighborhood, nation, or world.”
Drayton has been a fifth grade teacher at Dutch Fork Elementary School for four years. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and is a National Board candidate. She also is a member of the Palmetto State Teacher’s Association (PSTA). Drayton said, “Teachers are the key to future generations having the necessary tools to later successes in life…it is imperative that we define success as the ways our learners take action in the world to serve themselves and others.”
Hebert has 13 years of teaching experience, including five years in his present position at Chapin High School. He has a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of South Carolina and is currently working on his master’s degree in music education. “Education is the world’s foundation,” Hebert said. “Learning from our past mistakes, building on our current knowledge base, passing down knowledge from generation to generation has created the world we know today.”
Teachers of the Year from each school include: Jennifer Gray (Academy for Success), Andrea McKnight (Ballentine Elementary), Carrie Waring (Center for Advanced Technical Studies), Michele Scheno (Chapin Elementary), Kevin Hebert (Chapin High), David Fisher (Chapin Middle), Chris Craft (CrossRoads Middle), Megan Drayton (Dutch Fork Elementary), Sondra Suarez (Dutch Fork High), April Beale (Dutch Fork Middle), Leslie Reeves (Harbison West Elementary), Rosemary Bowie (H. E. Corley Elementary), Pollyanna Buff (Irmo Elementary), Willie Frierson (Irmo High), Jennifer Cook (Irmo Middle), Teresa Randolph (Lake Murray Elementary), Trina Wagstaff (Leaphart Elementary), Krysten Douglas (Nursery Road Elementary), Malisa Johnson (Oak Pointe Elementary), Maxcy Westmoreland (River Springs Elementary), Aaron Sellers (Seven Oaks Elementary) and Christine Boyeson (Spring Hill High School).
