Editor’s note: Part of an ongoing series featuring the teachers nominated for Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Teacher of the Year honors.

Being in the classroom and working with her students fulfills a lifelong dream for Savannah Horton.

She is a pre-K teacher at Warrenton Elementary and is her school’s nominee for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce Elementary Teacher of the Year.

Horton has been teaching for three and a half years, but she has been working toward her time in the classroom for her entire life.

“I have always wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl,” Horton said. “With a great home environment and all of my teachers supporting me throughout the years, it just made me want to be an educator.”

Working in pre-K, Horton is teaching her students basic skills including reading, the alphabet and math. Part of her lesson is through what she calls “center time” where students rotate through different activities.

“My students really love center time,” Horton said. “We have different stations set up so every day a child goes to a new station and they really enjoy that. We may have a fun station or an academic station, a writing station. At my center right now, we are working on Accelerated Reader.”

Her class is currently working on a book for the community and the students’ families detailing what they are thankful for in the world and they also recently won the school’s reading fair thanks to her favorite lesson ”Pete the Cat.”

“It is a series of books and this year we actually won the reading fair at our school for our division,” Horton said. “The book has a song that goes with it and it teaches the students a moral and a lesson with the book.”

As a teacher, Horton said she is constantly working to make sure her students are engaged and ready to learn.

“To always have the positive reinforcement,” Horton said of her goal in the classroom. “If a student is having a bad day, just pull them to the side and talk to them about what is going on, are you ok. Just asking them questions and then trying to build up their confidence.

“I love everything. Being in the classroom and having the students want to come to school to learn everyday and being involved with what they are learning.”

She graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education in 2014 and is currently pursuing her Masters in Education from Arkansas State University.

“It means a lot,” Horton said of being her school’s teacher of the year. “I am very thankful to represent Warrenton Elementary and I strive to do my very best for the students.”

The Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will choose one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon Feb. 21.

The winner of each award will receive $1,000 from Ameristar Casino and the runner-up for each award will receive $500 from Mutual Credit Union.

“I would be able to look into education even deeper than I already am and when I am older be able to say, ‘I won teacher of the year through the whole county,’” Horton said of her reaction if she won the award.