Ever since she was 8 years old and playing school around the house with her dolls, Courtney King knew she was destined to become a teacher. Now finishing up her eighth year as an educator and teaching fourth grade at Glen Lea Elementary School, King loves the chance she has to make a positive impact on her students. “My favorite […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Gania Rose, LeafSpring School
Gania Rose knew at a very early age that she wanted to become a teacher when she grew up. During her childhood, she often found herself as a student by day and a teacher by late-afternoon. “When I was maybe 10 my mother was a part of a single mothers group that would meet once a week and as one […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Matt Cross, Short Pump MS
Gifted programMatt Cross’ passion for teaching has always come from the connection he forms with his students based upon the content he teaches. “With the classes that I do, the connections that I can make with the students and building those relationships is the more fun and rewarding part,” Cross said. “Especially with the students who take my class all three […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – David Ingraham, Fairfield MS
EnglishAs a youngster growing up in Massachusetts, David Ingraham was never far from a book; his parents made sure of that. His father (an accountant) and mother (a computer programmer) made reading a focal point of the family’s activities, taking Ingraham and his siblings to library reading nights – and enforcing “penalties” when they didn’t check out a book. Ingraham’s […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Kyla Zabala, Hermitage HS
DramaKyla Zabala starred in her first theatrical performance at the experienced age of 3. By third grade, she was regularly pretending to be a teacher while playing with her friends. Was it any surprise, then, that she was destined to become a drama teacher? Between her start as an actor and her first year teaching drama at Highland Springs High […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Melanie Moore, Springfield Park ES
Fourth gradeMelanie Moore always knew she wanted to become a teacher when she grew up. With a mother and sister working as art teachers, Moore grew up well acquainted with what it would take. Now, as she approaches her 39th year of teaching elementary school students, Moore still gets excited every morning when her students enter the classroom. “[P]eople have asked […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Jack Bond, Nuckols Farm ES
Fourth gradeWhen Jack Bond was in fifth grade, he had a change of attitude about school. “I remember many parts of fifth grade quite vividly,” Bond says today. “It was the first time I looked forward to going to school each day.” His transformation into an eager student, he says, was all due to his teacher, Jerry Williams. “He brought a […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Kent Dohrman, Pinchbeck ES
Third gradeWhen Kent Dohrman started college, he majored in communications and had thoughts of becoming a broadcast journalist. But after working as a YMCA camp counselor over his summer breaks, Dohrman’s career goals took a turn. “I realized,” he recalls, “that [working with children] was what I wanted to do with my future.” Count a few hundred third-graders – past and […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Sandy West, Crestview ES
PreschoolOn the first day of preschool each year, Sandy West lets all of the four-year-olds at Crestview Elementary School know that they matter, and that she loves them as if they were her own children. Having her own child is what made West realize that she wanted to teach preschool instead of fifth grade, which she had taught for seven […]
Henrico’s Top Teachers – Sarah Moss, Tuckahoe ES
Sarah Moss, a first-grade teacher at Tuckahoe Elementary, has a Valentine’s Day card hanging next to her desk that reads, “You are never boring.” Nearly 14 years later, that still rings true. When schools shifted to virtual learning during the pandemic, Moss decided to make her lessons like a kids’ TV show. When Mrs. Moss the teacher left the room, […]
