VIDEO: Corbin teachers win prestigious awards

In an average school year, for any school district to have one nominee for a Teacher of the Year award would be considered flattering. If that teacher happened to win the award, the particular district would undoubtedly have plenty to boast about.

Well, the Corbin Independent School District can boast away after having a pair of elementary science teachers receive teacher of the year honors from the National Science Teacher’s Association.

Andrea Broyles, a fourth grade science teacher at Corbin Elementary, and Missy Evans a science teacher at the Corbin Middle School were given two of the four awards that were distributed state-wide, leaving Corbin Superintendent Ed McNeel with nothing but good things to say about the two of them.

“We are very proud of our staff, especially the two that are in question here,” he said. “Both of them have been experienced teachers who have led their schools and their students and haven been real team players.

“They really work hard to do a great job and both of them are outstanding candidates for these awards,” he added.

The two of them follow a line of successful science teachers from the Corbin ranks, including Sharon Ball and Joyce Phillips, each who won the awards in the past. Speaking of past awards, Broyles and Evans were also given Science Teaching Excellence Awards last year by Amgen.

For Broyles, she said this year’s award meant a lot to her due to the fact that Ball, who is also her current boss, had won the award previously (2000). Broyles also noted that since she did her student-teaching under Ball, she felt like she played a part in it as well.

“When I first came to Corbin and started working, I was really nervous when I found out Mrs. Ball would be observing me,” Broyles said. “She knows her science and she knows it very well, so you know she would be paying a lot of attention.”

As for her teaching styles, Broyles said there were different instances over the years that she could point to when developing her particular style, but she said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.

“I think basically different trends in teaching have influenced me,” Broyles said. “Definitely Sharon Ball has made a big impact since I have been here. Before her, I had several teachers when I was in high school in Graves County that made a big difference.

“There’s a piece of paper hanging in my classroom that I wrote in second grade about what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was my first essay,” she added. “I come from a family of teachers, so I really can’t imagine doing anything else.”

For Evans, she said the award was just a way for her to represent local teachers and let others know the quality of education students can get in this part of Kentucky.

“It was such a really huge honor and a real surprise that they chose two teachers from Corbin,” Evans said. “I am just thrilled to bring this kind of recognition to this part of the state, because we have some wonderful teachers here.

“As for teachers in our district, I’ve worked with them, they’ve been my colleagues and my friends and I am just thrilled to be able to represent Corbin,” she added.

As for Evans’ influences, she said teaching was always in her blood.

“My mother was a teacher and so was my father, so it is in my blood,” she said. “My dad was always a huge outdoorsman, constantly dragging me along on some great adventure in his mind.

“We would go under rock cliffs and search for arrowheads, or climb other rocks looking for petrified wood,” she added. “At the time, I thought it was child abuse, but it was those experiences that led me to teaching and I want to be like that as a teacher.”

For both teachers, the fact the awards were given by their peers means a lot more than people realize.

“This award is even more special to me because it is coming from science teachers and those involved in education at the NSTA,” Evans said.

“Any time you are honored by your peers it means a lot,” Broyles said. “You always enjoy seeing the students respond, but to get an award from other teachers and those involved in education means a lot.”