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

Melanie Corbin got her start is education by tutoring two children in her neighborhood, and now in her 25th year as a teacher it is the struggling students she is still dedicated to helping.

“Being able to sit with them and work with them,” Corbin said. “I truly enjoy sitting with them and working with that small group and seeing them work and the little light come on when they understand what I said, or understand something new.

“It almost makes you feel complete. That you have done something that had an impact on somebody or a small child to get them to understand something.”

Her goal is to take those students who are struggling and help them grow even if that is just helping them a grade level.

“For the ones that are really struggling, I really want to see them move up at least one grade level. Say they came to me at a kindergarten/first grade level, I want to see that group really move,” Corbin said.

Corbin is in her 24th year as a teacher at South Park Elementary School and her eighth year as a second grade teacher. She is her school’s nominee for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Elementary Teacher of the Year.

“I really do think it is an honor,” Corbin said of being nominated. “It is truly an honor to be picked by your peers and that they actually think that much of you to select me to be the person to represent them.”

Corbin graduated from Mississippi State with a bachelors in education in 1992. She originally set out to pursue a career as an accountant, but after determining life in a cubical wasn’t for her, she decided to follow her mom into education.

She made the switch for good after spending a summer break from school tutoring two children in her neighborhood and realizing the impact she could have.

“I enjoyed them so much and the mom saw that we were having a connection. They were having problems in school and I was working with them over the summer,” Corbin said. “After working with them and seeing how well they did, I thought maybe I am in the wrong thing.”

The idea of a cubicle is but a distant memory now. Corbin said what she loves about teaching is that no two days are the same even after doing it for 25 years.

“I like all the changes every year,” Corbin said. “That is one thing a teacher can say, an educator can say, whenever you go into a class there is nothing that will always be the same. It is always different. Each and every day is something new.”

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.

“It would be awesome,” Corbin said of her reaction is she won the award. “There are so many wonderful teachers in the district. I don’t think I actually compare to them. If I were to be picked it would be a true honor to me.”