By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A teacher from Coosa Elementary School was named as Beaufort County’s 2023-2024 District Teacher of the Year during a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, on Hilton Head Island.
April Bryant, a 5th-grade teacher who moved here in 2019, was announced as this year’s winner during the celebration honoring all the Teachers of the Year from all schools in the Beaufort County School District (BCSD) at the Coastal Discovery Museum.
“It’s such an honor,” Bryant said. “I am among some of the most phenomenal teachers I have seen in my life in my career, and I was very, very shocked that they called my name but feeling beyond blessed that it was me.”
As District Teacher of the Year, Bryant will participate in an advisory council with the District Teachers of the Year finalists from the past three years and will help to come up with plans of action to motivate and support the teachers in the Beaufort County School District.
Originally from Southern California, Bryant began her career in teaching in North Carolina before moving to Beaufort four years ago to be closer to family.
She said the only school she has worked at in Beaufort is Coosa and she was offered that job after interviewing with the school’s principal, Melissa Pender.
“Mrs. Bryant is an individual that was born to be in this profession; she is student centered, she consistently shares her craft with other teachers and her classroom serves as a model for others in our district,” Pender said. “We are so happy that she’s been recognized with this honor today.”
According to a media release from the school district, Bryant wrote in her Teacher of the Year application that she believes teachers are successful when they actively establish and build relationships with students, and these relationships are built with a commitment that comes from knowing the students and their stakeholders in their education.
Bryant currently holds a Master of Science in Education, Pre-K through 6th-grade Literacy and a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Elementary and Early Childhood with a concentration in Behavioral Studies.
She also has a Literacy Endorsement from the S.C. Department of Education and a Gifted and Talented Endorsement from the University of South Carolina.
Within Coosa, Bryant is a Grade Chair, a new teacher mentor, she is on the School Improvement Committee and she works with the Gifted and Talented program and as an advisor to the National Elementary Honors Society.
There is a three-step process to becoming District Teacher of the Year that begins when teachers of the year are selected at the school level.
From there, teachers who want to compete for District Teacher of the Year submit their applications by the end of July.
Then, a selection committee that consists of parents, former educators and community leaders from across Beaufort County reviews the applications and rates them using a numerical scoring system.
The five finalists for District Teacher of the Year have the five highest scores.
Finally, the finalists are interviewed by a second review committee and are judged based on how well they respond to questions about current educational issues.
The panel selects the District Teacher of the Year in September, and that teacher goes on to represent Beaufort County in the South Carolina state Teacher of the Year program.
Finalists for the state program will be announced in February.
The other four finalists for the award were Josh Ferguson at Whale Branch Early College High School, Amanda Freeman at Mossy Oaks Elementary, Karen Tooman at Battery Creek High School and James King at May River High School.
This year Coosa has also received the National Blue Ribbon award and Assistant Principal Renee Roberts was honored as Assistant Principal of the Year.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
