Congratulations to science teacher Shelly Reathaford for winning CFHS 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year. She has been teaching for 20 years. Outside of teaching, she enjoys reading at the beach, spending time with friends and family, and also being a certified cheer judge on the weekends.
Winning Teacher of the Year is significant because it recognizes the teacher’s hard work and dedication who positively impacted their students. This award can lead to professional growth opportunities, such as leadership roles or allowing the teacher to share their field of education. When teachers build a strong relationship with their students, it creates trust and respect that helps with communication. This relationship can make the students feel valued and understood, which can increase their motivation for school and learning.
Reathaford states, “Winning teacher of the year at Carolina Forest was a huge surprise. It is so easy to love my job when I am surrounded by the best teachers and students in the county! I cannot express how much it means to me to be recognized at this level.”
Another positive for winning Teacher of the Year is that this acknowledgement can inspire and motivate colleagues to strive for excellence in their teaching practices.
Shelly Reathaford’s favorite teaching memory is teaching a lesson in her main science courses at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, NC. At the end of the school year, she had her classes paint their favorite marine organism on a tile, present them, and then hang the tiles up on the ceiling and eventually the whole classroom was filled. Reathaford stated that it was a beautiful display of the student’s work and always made her smile when she entered the room. The student’s tiles are still up to this day.
Reathaford states, “I have been fortunate to have lasting relationships with students through teaching and coaching. While I only have a handful I still speak to regularly, I love it when a former student reaches out to me through social media to give me life updates or tell me how they remember something I taught them. There is no better feeling and it truly warms my heart.”
Joe Ardizzone, a senior, stated, “Ms. Rethaford is very involved with her students and is also good at helping with school work.”
Shelly Reathaford is one teacher out of 56 district instructors who has been nominated for Teacher of the Year. Ten semifinalists will chosen after a written review is submitted by school winners. Following a further review of the semifinalists’ portfolios and interviews with the committee, the list is shortened to five finalists. During late spring each year, our school district hosts a Teacher of the Year banquet to honor the Top 5 and announce the district winner.
Congratulations, Shelly Reathaford, for winning Teacher of the Year. This is a remarkable achievement that reflects your dedication, passion, and commitment to your students. Thank you for all that you do and for being an incredible role model!
