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TO CONGRATULATE CARLA OWENS, A TEACHER AT WARE SHOALS PRIMARY SCHOOL, FOR BEING NAMED THE 2022-2023 GREENWOOD COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 51 TEACHER OF THE YEAR.
Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives was pleased to learn that Carla Owens was named the Greenwood County School District 51 Teacher of the Year; and
Whereas, Ms. Owens earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Lander University in 2009 and has more than eighteen hours of graduate level classes from her alma mater; and
Whereas, she began her professional career at Ware Shoals Primary as a substitute teacher and reading interventionist and taught kindergarten at Lakeview Elementary in the 2013 schoolyear; and
Whereas, from 2014 to 2016, Ms. Owens taught second grade at Woodfields Elementary. She returned to Ware Shoals Primary in 2016 where she has taught the second grade and four-year-old and five-year-old kindergartens consecutively. Since 2021, she has served as a reading interventionist for students from five-year-old kindergarten to fourth grade; and
Whereas, every year, she has opened her classroom to students on job shadowing day and to teacher cadets to provide time to observe a classroom and interact with students. She has opened her classroom to clinical students at Lander University and Piedmont Technical College to fulfill their practicum requirements; and
Whereas, dedicated to her profession, Ms. Owens is a member of the PTO and assists with planning, preparing, and hosting PTO events during the school year, and she is a member of the Palmetto State Teachers Association. She trained in 2017 to serve as a mentor to help new teachers develop their skills, and in 2018, she trained to evaluate classroom lessons and to gain resources and strategies for collecting data so she can serve on teacher evaluation teams; and
Whereas, since 2019, she has served on the CSI School Improvement Team for Ware Shoals Primary School to lead and coordinate school improvement initiatives as outlined in the School Renewal Plan and Progress Monitoring Tool. This team leads the school in identifying students who need academic, special needs, medical, behavioral, personal, social, and emotional interventions and in developing plans and goals to meet the needs of those students; and
Whereas, she serves as program coordinator of the after-school and summer school programs to identify and enroll students who are eligible to participate in them, as well as to identify faculty and staff to fill tutoring positions in the program. She manages the program's day-to-day operations, including scheduling, timesheets, curriculum implementations, budgets, supplies, attendance records, and partnering with transportation and food service departments; and
Whereas, she cochairs the Culture and Climate Team by encouraging, building, and improving the staff and student climate, with one of her duties being to maintain a PBIS Prize Cart for every Friday during lunch when students can shop and choose their rewards; and
Whereas, deeply involved in her community, Ms. Owens participates annually in Relay for Life and in fundraising events to raise money and awareness for the organization. She volunteers each year at the Miss Honeybee pageant in support of Ware Shoals' students so that the pageant can run smoothly and successfully; and
Whereas, she is involved with youth sports in her community and volunteers to keep the book at both parks and recreation and Ware Shoals' c-team baseball games. She serves the Athletic Association, working in the concession stand during varsity baseball games; and
Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is deeply grateful for educational professionals like Carla Owens who give tirelessly of themselves to develop the minds of our youth who will become productive citizens of the Palmetto State. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, congratulate Carla Owens, a teacher at Ware Shoals Primary School, for being named the 2022-2023 Greenwood County School District 51 Teacher of the Year.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Carla Owens.
This web page was last updated on September 27, 2022 at 2:51 PM