Alumni

The opportunity to attend the Holocaust Seminar through the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching was truly a life changing experience. As a high school history teacher, I thought I knew a great deal about the Holocaust and the events surrounding this historical atrocity. However, after visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., I found out that there was so much I did not know.

We're happy to see Brian Smith of Newton-Conover City Schools in the Hickory Young Professionals Top 10 Under 40 list. Congrats Brian! He has been with us several times at NCCAT.

Here are some highlights of Brian's work for education in NC!

- Assists teachers who have struggling students in their classrooms.

- Provides staff development with integrating math into special areas and facilitates how to work with students who are experiencing trauma.

We were happy to read a recent story by the Wilmington StarNews welcoming home Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Peterson. It was great to see this man who serves our country welcomed home by his daughter Aleeya Sampson. We were not surprised to see NCCAT alumna Beverly Ladd helped with setting this reunion up at Pine Valley Elementary School.

It is always a great honor to hear how educators take what they've worked on here at NCCAT back into classrooms across the state of North Carolina. We hear these stories each day and can't get enough of them honestly.

A good friend and alumnus of NCCAT Ben Owens, a physics and mathematics teacher at Tri-County Early College High School in Cherokee County and National Teacher Fellow with The Hope Street Group, is working on an interesting program to expand in-classroom, teacher-to-teacher professional development.

The program currently has people in four districts participating in the pilot: Swain County, Buncombe County, McDowell County and Cherokee County. We are hoping to have a project kickoff at NCCAT in Cullowhe in early December. We'll keep you posted.

Congratulations to NCCAT alumna Angie Sigmon, a K-3 teacher at Shuford Elementary School in Conover (Newton-Conover City Schools), who has been named North Carolina's latest Milken Educator Award winner and the recipient of a $25,000 prize.

We're proud of Angie and the great work she does for the children of Shuford Elementary School. Here's more on the honor from the Department of North Carolina Department of Public Instruction ...