Twenty-seven-year educator and Madras Middle School teacher Nancy Williams has been named one of 10 finalists for 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year. The winner of the competition will be announced at a statewide banquet to be held in May.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to represent the teachers of Coweta County,” said Williams.
Williams teaches Social Skills at Madras in grades 6-8 and is one of 10 finalists for the state honor, according to school system spokesperson Dean Jackson. All 10 will be honored and Georgia’s 2012 Teacher of the Year will be announced from among them at the May 6 Georgia Teacher of Year banquet to held at the Georgia World Congress Center, Jackson said.
“There were county winners from 159 counties in Georgia, and I know each and every one of them must be very special teachers to have had won at their county level,” said Williams. “Being a state finalist is such an honor but at the same time, very humbling. I was in a pool surrounded by some of the best teachers in Georgia, and I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult of a task it was to have to narrow this group of dedicated teachers down to just 10 finalists.”
Williams is Coweta County’s 2010 Teacher of the Year. She has taught at Madras Middle School since 2008, after teaching for six years at Coweta’s Willis Road Elementary School. She was chosen by her fellow teachers at Willis Road to represent that school as Teacher of the Year in 2004, and was selected that year as the Coweta County’s Teacher of the Year as well. Williams holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Nova University and achieved National Board Certification as a Special Education teacher in 2004, Jackson said.
Williams is the 14th Coweta County Teacher to be selected as a finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year. Smokey Road math teacher Clay Hildebrand was selected as one of 10 finalists for the honor in 2009. Three Coweta County Teachers have gone on be selected as Georgia’s Teacher of the Year, including Lorraine Johnson, Nancy Royal and Jamie Lipscomb.
Prior to the May 6 Georgia Teacher of the Year banquet, Williams will appear at Coweta County’s 2011 Teacher of the Year program on April 26 to honor Coweta’s 31 Teachers of the Year. The program is sponsored annually by the Coweta County Board of Education and the Newnan Pilot Club.
