Keana Tripplett wanted to be a teacher since the first day of Kindergarten, but it wasn't until she received the North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship to Appalachian State that she knew teaching was her calling.
Today, ten year after earning a BA in Secondary English Education at Appalachian State University, Keana Tripplett is teaching English at Ashe County High School, and has the distinction of being the 2015-2016 North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
On being the North Carolina Teacher of the Year, Tripplett shares: "When I was announced as the 2015-2016 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, I was very shocked and humbled. The other finalists were phenomenal educators, and I certainly don't view myself as the best teacher in the state; rather, I view myself as the representative for the 95,000 educators in North Carolina."
Tripplett credits her experience at Appalachian as having a profound impact on her as a teacher, and an essential part of her journey. It was the professors in English and Education that, for her, modeled what it meant to build relationships with students, and foster success. It was ultimately the community experience at Appalachian that taught her the necessity of building a community classroom.
On the state of teaching and education today, Tripplett notes, "Most people cannot understand an educator's calling until they experience a day in a classroom fulfilling that role. Understanding this first hand and learning everything that I am at this point in my journey, I comprehend more than ever the necessity for quality educators in the classroom. Gone are the days of mediocrity in education."
After Tripplett's appointment as Teacher of the Year ends, she plans to return to the classroom, but her work with community education will not stay within four school walls. "I am passionate about pre-service and beginning teachers, so I want to become even more involved in educating and encouraging those individuals about the realities and victories of the classroom. Wherever my path leads, I yearn to be an active advocate for the education profession and the 95,000 educators in North Carolina who fulfill this calling with passion and perseverance!"
In 2011, the NC General Assembly voted to end the NC Teaching Fellows Program. This past spring, the final class of Teaching Fellows will graduate, and enter public school classrooms across the state, following the same dream Keana Tripplett followed when she came to Appalachian State University.
For more information on Keana Tripplett, you can visit her website 2015nctoykeanatriplett.com.