‘The heart of our building:’ Okatie Elementary educator wins district teacher of the year

First-grade teacher Megan DeWeese thought her own children were in trouble when they were kicked out of their Zoom classroom earlier this week.

Their teacher, one of DeWeese’s colleagues at Okatie Elementary School, told her that they just had connectivity issues. But in reality, she didn’t want them to spoil a surprise for their mom: The class was recording a congratulatory message for DeWeese, who was named Beaufort County School District’s teacher of the year on Thursday.

That afternoon, DeWeese thought she was being called into an all-hands staff meeting after school ended. Instead, superintendent Frank Rodriguez was there to announce the award, with school board members and her colleagues looking on.

And while students weren’t physically present, they were there via video.

Dozens of Okatie students recorded messages to DeWeese, many repeating the same sentiments: She’s kind, she’s funny, she cares. In-person hybrid and Zoom classrooms were recorded saying “you’re our number one,” followed by DeWeese’s own children, who did eventually get to record their own video.

“She’s the heart of our building,” principal Jamie Pinckney said Thursday. “She’s loved and she’s trusted. She has so much faith in humanity.”

DeWeese said Thursday that the key to her teaching was “to try and see the good in everyone.”

“(It’s important to) love your students and make them want to grow,” she said. “Sometimes they need academics, and then some of them just need emotional support. You have to fix that before you fix anything else. You have to let them know you love them.”

DeWeese has taught at Okatie Elementary School for five years, and in that time has completed both a masters and doctoral degree, which she said took “a lot of late nights” and a drive to improve herself for her “personal kids and my students — all of them are my kids.”

DeWeese was named as one of five finalists for the district award last month. Each school’s teacher of the year was named in April, and all had the opportunity to apply for the district award in July. DeWeese is preceded by Michelle Gordon, a math teacher at Bluffton High School who was present for Thursday’s ceremony.

While this school year looks very different compared to others, DeWeese said she would use her year to inspire teachers and students to keep going during the pandemic.

“Right now there’s a lot of teachers that just want to give up, because it is hard,” she said. “You look on Facebook and you see lots of people having a hard time. We remind them that it’s worth it, and that the kids are worth it.”

Here’s the full list of each school’s teacher of the year, with finalists for district teacher of the year marked with an asterisk:

Rachel Jones

The Island Packet

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Rachel Jones covers education for the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has worked for the Daily Tar Heel and Charlotte Observer. She has won awards from the South Carolina Press Association, Associated College Press and North Carolina College Media Association for feature writing and education reporting.