- April 25, 2024
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Sometimes, people decide to become teachers while they’re still children. Years later, when that dream has been realized, they speak of makeshift classrooms in their backyards and lofty thoughts of one day being as influential as their own educators were.
Colleen Newman, Flagler County School District’s 2012-2013 Teacher of the Year, is not one of these people. She didn’t decide to become a teacher until she was in college. But once she made that decision after following the advice of her grandfather, she never looked back.
“My grandfather was right,” Newman said.
Newman teaches first grade at Belle Terre Elementary school, and she has for the last eight years. She approaches each day in the classroom with the same mindset she hopes to instill in her pupils: She is excited about learning.
“You have to go in there with energy every day,” Newman said. “I have to be enthused about learning. … I pretty much do relearn everything with them, because it’s just about me showing excitement about learning, and if I do that, they ease right into it.”
Newman was announced Thursday evening as this year’s districtwide Teacher of the Year after each school in the district named its own Teacher of the Year. Each winner filled out a nomination packet, and the winner for the district as a whole was decided from those applications.
Each school also nominated an employee of the year, all of whom were honored at Thursday’s event. Sue McVeigh, who works in Exceptional Student Education at Flagler’s Government Services Building, was selected as the 2012-2013 districtwide Employee of the Year. She has been working as an ESE parent specialist for Flagler County since 2009.
Flagler Auditorium was loud with cheers and applause as nominees and winners were announced. The finalists for Teacher of the Year were Katie Hansen, of Indian Trails Middle School; and Susan Morden, of Buddy Taylor Middle School. Finalists for Employee of the Year were Antonia Barton, of Old Kings Elementary; and Roxianne Smith, of Bunnell Elementary School.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Newman said, wiping a tear from her eye shortly after the announcement was made. “I’m honored, greatly honored. I had not expected this, especially because I knew my competitors, and they’re amazing teachers.
Newman graduated from Flagler Palm Coast High School and attended Florida State University. After two years, she still hadn’t decided on a major. That’s when her grandfather offered his advice. He said she should either become a professional golfer or a teacher.
“I love just inspiring these kids,” she said. “I work with first grade, ... and they even come to school sick because they don’t want to miss anything. That’s really what it’s all about.”
Newman runs her classroom in a lighthearted, engaging manner. Just before she was announced as winner at Thursday’s event, school officials played a video clip of her teaching. She taught them about concrete items with an example: She had new neighbors, she told her class, animating her words with gestures and facial expressions. She didn’t know anything about them. So, she said, she took their garbage.
“I thought we could find out more about them by looking at what’s in their trash,” she told students.
Making the classroom fun and interesting, she said, is how students become engaged.
“I couldn’t be happier for her and her family,” said Flagler County School Board member Andy Dance.
Newman has a husband, John, and three children: Kayli, Jayce and Josie Belle.
“I’ve never looked back,” she said, speaking of her decision to pursue teaching. “This is it. This is me.”
