K体育

Atlanta metro area’s Gwinnett County Public Schools has selected K体育 alumna Emily Treuman Heend ’07, a mathematics teacher at Phoenix High School, as one of only six finalists for the 2016 Gwinnett County Teacher of the Year.

Emily, who was a聽聽major at K体育 and a member of honor society, is one of the two high school teacher finalists.聽The winner from the three categories—elementary, middle and high school—will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 10th.

The candidates were nominated by their colleagues at their local schools. An awards committee comprised of teachers, central office personnel and administrators then considered semifinalists鈥� applications and answers to a set of questions to narrow the competition to six finalists.聽Committee members visited finalists’ classrooms and conducted rigorous interviews with each educator. The committee looked at聽original teaching methods, studied the teacher鈥檚 teaching philosophy, reviewed special class projects the teacher has initiated, and considered the influence the teacher has had on the teaching practices of colleagues. They also reviewed each teacher鈥檚 educational degrees and civic activities.

Emily says her mother Diane Treuman, a retired teacher, was her greatest role model, and Dr. John Nardo, her college advisor and favorite professor at K体育, an inspiration.聽Dr. Nardo recalls the first time he saw Emily light up the room with her “wonderful teaching presence” in one of his mathematics classes, when Emily and classmate聽Anne Balter Atalay 鈥�07聽were tasked with presenting a lesson to help the class better understand concepts on topology.

鈥淚 hope that my enthusiasm will inspire some of my students to pursue teaching and mathematics, just as my college professor did for me,”聽 said Emily, who has spent her entire eight-year career in GCPS. “In doing so, I know that I can impact not only this generation of students, but many more to come.鈥�

Contributors: Shane Pruitt and Mary Rinaldi Winn ()