S.C. "Teacher Of The Year" To Speak at Limestone

Jennifer Ainsworth, the 2014-2015 South Carolina Teacher of the Year, will speak at Limestone College on Monday, March 23, at 4 p.m.

The event at Fullerton Auditorium is free and open to the public.

Ainsworth, who was named Teacher of the Year during a ceremony at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center on April 23 of last year, teaches mild to moderate special needs children from ages 14 to 21 at Socastee High School in Horry County. She is known for her passion and dedication to her students, and for going above and beyond to provide them with opportunities for recreation and to participate in the community.

Her title earned Ainsworth $25,000 and a new BMW to use for one year. She is also participating in a one-year residency program at the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, and she serves as a statewide ambassador for the teaching profession.

“Teachers shine because of their students, and I have superstars,” Ainsworth said the night she accepted the award.

Ainsworth was named one of the state’s five finalists, known as Honor Roll teachers, in March of 2014. A team visited her at Socastee High to video her teaching and do preliminary work for a seven-member state selection committee, with which she later had personal interviews in Columbia. The finalists were chosen from 81 school districts, the S.C. School for the Deaf and the Blind, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Palmetto Unified School District and the S.C. Public Charter School District.

“We are so pleased to host the South Carolina Teacher of the Year,” said Dr. Shelly Meyers, Director of Teacher Education and Chair of the Division of Education and Physical Education at Limestone. “It is a rare opportunity for our Teacher Candidates and Cadets. We sincerely hope the local education community will join us to hear from Ms. Ainsworth.”

For more information, contact the Limestone College Division of Education & Physical Education at (864) 488-8207.