This article is part of a series by The Vicksburg Post, in partnership with the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, featuring each of the nominees for teacher of the year honors.

 

When asked by the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce in its Teacher of the Year application, Bowmar Elementary teacher Christine Jones answered, “it’s my passion.”

That’s just three words to explain why Jones explored a career in teaching, and why today she is considered one of the best at her school and in the Vicksburg Warren School District.

Passion would also explain how she used her cultural background as an Asian-American to help a student at Bowmar.

“Growing up, I never had a teacher that looked like me and that shared cultural similarities with me,” Jones wrote in her application. “I always felt different, and it contributed to my lack of confidence and shy personality.

“Last year, I had a student that was Indian. We talked daily about our lunches that were unique to our culture, our families,” Jones wrote. “This student was already high achieving and very outgoing, so it did not really occur to me how much I impacted her that year until I read what she wrote in my yearbook on the last day of school. She wrote, ‘I never knew how much I would relate to you. It has been such a great year … You have been so supportive. Love you to the moon and back.’

“We both teared up and hugged one another.”

Jones is one of the area teachers nominated for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Teacher of the Year awards.

The chamber will select and announce one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon on Feb. 25. 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.

She received her elementary education degree from Mississippi State and a master’s degree in curriculum from Bellhaven.

Before coming to Bowmar for the 2018-2019 school year, Jones taught three years at Warrenton Elementary. Today, she is one of Bowmar’s fourth-grade teachers.

As for some of her teaching objectives, Jones said one of the foundations she hopes to provide students is not only how to set goals for themselves, but achieve those goals.

“I think it is important for students to understand how to set goals for themselves,” she wrote. “Teaching students how to set realistic goals in the classroom will help them set goals in other aspects of their life.”