To Sir With Love: BHS Teacher of the Year
February 17, 2020
Valentine’s Day marked the official announcement for Bethel High School’s favored 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year. Administration and supporting staff made their way with balloons, flowers and congratulations to the classroom of social studies teacher Erik Wilson to share the good news. “It was truly a humbling experience, but it’s the students that motivate me to do what I do each day,” said Wilson.
Mr. Wilson started teaching with HCS in 2006, yet his teaching career spans over 20 years. Wilson transferred to Bethel from Hampton High in 2018. At BHS, Wilson is known as an easygoing, astute and engaging educator that embodies the spirit of education, particularly in the 21st Century. 10th grader Janiyah Johnston said that Wilson makes learning more relatable and fun for students. Janiyah also stated that Mr. Wilson deserves to be teacher of the year, but feels students should be involved in the voting process. “Students are the ones who are impacted by teachers, so we should be able to choose the teacher of the year.”
Success 101 teacher Sherry Murphy served on the voting committee and explained that the selection process is anonymous. According to Murphy, the candidates are rated on a likert scale by each voting member. Murphy who happens to be the BHS Teacher of the Year for 2019-2020 as well as Hampton City Schools’ Teacher of the Year stressed that all of the nominees were worthy of the title and the decision was challenging.
The HCS Teacher of the Year award will be announced at the annual banquet on March 26th.
