Parkview educator is Teacher of the Year

Winner Campbell says it’s important to build relationships.

Gwinnett County Public Schools named Parkview High’s Heidi Campbell its top teacher Thursday during the annual Teacher of the Year banquet at the Infinite Energy Forum in Duluth.

Described as a teacher who never runs out of smiles or tires of offering a friendly “hello,” Campbell was first the 2019 Gwinnett County High School Teacher of the Year.

Kelly Specht of Riverside Elementary School is Gwinnett’s 2019 Elementary School Teacher of the Year and Lindsey Saa of Couch Middle School is Gwinnett’s 2019 Middle School Teacher of the Year. In all, the school district recognized 137 local school Teachers of the Year.

Campbell teaches jour- nalism and British litera- ture and has been an educator for 24 years — 18 with Gwinnett County schools. She says small things are important to help build relationships, which is why every day she meets her students at the door to her classroom with a smile.

“Connections will naturally happen if teachers engage with their students in and out of the classroom. Getting to know my students enables me to create engaging lessons that appeal to their learning styles,” she said.

She revamped a nd expanded Parkview High’s student newspaper and started a second journal- ism class. She credits the hard work and dedication of her students for the success of her school’s journalism program. The newspaper won the first-place rank- ing in 2017 of Superior at the state level, which was the first time the school had ever won such an award. Campbell said.

As a result, the program for both journalism classes has grown from 14 students to nearly 60 students in three years.

“Competition became fierce to get into the journalism class, and I had to turn away far too many potential journalists,” she said.