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Eighteen people were recognized as Tennessee's top educators Thursday
night, October 17, 2002 at the Mrs. Grissom's Salads 2003 Excellence
in Education Awards banquet in Nashville.
Susan
Bunch, a Supervisor at Henderson County Schools
was named Supervisor of the Year; Ms. Robbie
Robinson McGowan, a Principal at Mooreland
Heights Elementary, Knoxville received the Principal of the
Year award and Deborah Smith,
a Kindergarten teacher at Glencliff Elementary School,
Metro Nashville Schools received the 2003 Teacher of the Year
award. The award ceremonies climaxed a month-long search throughout
the state for Tennessee's best supervisors, principals and teachers.
Each will receive $5,000 to be used towards making their schools
even better.
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Supervisor
of the Year
Susan
Bunch
Supervisor
Henderson County Schools
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Principal
of the Year
Ms.
Robbie Robinson McGowan
Principal
Mooreland Heights Elementary, Knoxville
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Teacher
of the Year
Deborah
Smith
Kindergarten teacher
Glencliff Elementary School, Metro Nashville Schools
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Fifteen
semifinalists were also recognized and each will receive $1,000
for their schools. The semifinalists included:
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Karen
White
1st grade teacher,
Cherokee Elementary School, Johnson City Schools |
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Wanda
Gray
5th grade teacher
Richland Elementary School, Memphis City Schools
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Debbie Smotherman
7-10th grade teacher
Martin Luther King Magnet School, Metro Nashville Schools |
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Sharon
Anderson
11th grade U.S. History and Newspaper Production teacher
Cookeville High School, Putnam County Public Schools |
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Kim
Mullins
9th - 10th grade World Cultural Studies teacher
East Ridge High School, Hamilton County Schools
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Mr.
Stan M. Baskin
Principal
Homer Pittard Campus School, Murfreesboro
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Ms.
Marsha Hamblen Carr
Principal
Griffith Elementary School, Dunlap
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Mr.
Joel Giffin
Principal
Maryville Middle School, Maryville |
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Ms.
Sara Liechty
Principal
Jack T. Farrar Elementary, Tullahoma
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Ms.
Vivian T. Woods
Principal
Snow Hill Elementary, Etowah |
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Robbie
Anderson
Supervisor
Johnson City Schools
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Teri
Anderson
Supervisor
Putnam
County Schools |
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Dean
Holland
Supervisor
Tullahoma City Schools |
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Brooke Hodges
Supervisor
Huntingdon Special School District
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Nancy Williamson
Supervisor
Oneida Special School District
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The
winners were selected from a field of nominees gathered from around
the state through participating Kroger stores and online at mrsgrissoms.com.
"The
purpose of this program was to recognize and reward the very best
among Tennessee's educators," said Grace Grissom, founder of
Mrs. Grissom's Salads and sponsor of the program. "I'm very
proud of all of Tennessee's educators and the positive impact they
have on the lives of our children."
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Left
to Right:
Susan Bunch-Supervisor of the Year
Deborah Smith-Teacher of the Year
Mrs. Grissom
Robbie Robinson McGowan-Principal of the Year |
Nominees
underwent a rigorous evaluation process by a selection committee
to make it to the finals. "We let those closest to the educators
tell us who is doing the best job," commented Faye Taylor,
Commissioner of Education for the State of Tennessee. "The
Department of Education appreciates Mrs. Grissom's Salads for underwriting
this very worthwhile program," continued Taylor. "It is
this type of support from the business community that makes Tennessee
such a wonderful place to live and raise our families."
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Left
to Right:
Cindy Benefield-Excecutive Director, Professional Development
for School
Improvement
Mrs. Grissom
Jeff Roberts- Deputy Commissioner of Education |
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Left
to Right:
Kenneth Funger-Executive V.P.,
Mrs. Grissom's Salads, Inc.
Mrs. Grissom
Janet Patterson-Tennessee Radio Network |
| To
download the press release kit for this event, which includes
high resolution versions of the images above and the official
press release in word document format, click on the link below.
This is a compressed file in the .zip format. You will need
WinZip
or a similar program to decompress this file for viewing. Please
take into consideration that this is a large file and your download
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