Knox County Schools honored nearly 200 teachers during its Teacher of the Year celebration at the Knoxville Convention Center on Feb. 22. The event was sponsored by LifeTouch and Partners in Education.
The celebration is held annually to recognize outstanding educators from Knox County Schools. To be considered, a candidate must be a full-time, certified PreK-12 teacher who has taught five or more years and spends the majority of the day instructing students. Candidates must also show dedication to teaching and possess a variety of positive personal attributes. School-level recipients are nominated by their colleagues with the number of recipients per school determined by the number of faculty at the school.
From the school-level winners, three were named Knox County Teacher of the Year recipients, using the Tennessee Department of Education guidelines:
- Madison Snyder from Bonny Kate Elementary has been teaching with KCS since 2014. She has served as a Canvas Summer Camp counselor, a technology trainer, a mentor teacher and a team leader. She has also served such groups as Girls on the Run of Greater Knoxville and Camp Ba Yo Ca and served in many volunteer roles for her school’s PTA.
- J.T. Hicks from Cedar Bluff Middle School has been teaching for 12 years and has been with Knox County Schools since 2012. He has served as a mentor teacher, a team leader and as a member of the Principal Advisory Committee. He has also been recognized as a Lexus Leader of Knoxville, as a two-time Tennessee Lottery State Educator of the Month and a two-time WBIR Educator of the Week. He serves as a science bowl coach, youth basketball coach and as a show design and percussion consultant to both Wartburg and Karns high schools.
- Bryan Schultz from L&N STEM Academy has been teaching for 10 years and has served as the science department chair, as a member of the UTK Earth & Planetary Sciences advisory board, on the National Honor Society committee and the staff development committee. He has been recognized as a teacher of the year previously and is responsible for creating the L&N STEM Advisory Board.