Schools honor two CTE teachers
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on May 8, 2016 1:45 AM
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Wayne County Public Schools announced its 2015-2016 Career and Technical Education, or CTE, Teacher of the Year for the high school and middle school levels.
Both were recognized at Monday night's school board meeting by board member Eddie Radford.
Amanda Barnes, a business teacher at Charles B. Aycock High School, was named the CTE high school teacher of the year, while Paul Casey, a technology education instructor at Norwayne Middle, is CTE middle school teacher of the year.
Mrs. Barnes is business department chair at CBA, where she has taught for 22 years. She is also a National Board Certified teacher in business education.
"She began her teaching career in Nash County in 1989. After teaching in Wilson County and at Greenwood Middle School, she transferred to Charles B. Aycock High School in November 1994," Radford said. "The various Microsoft and Adobe classes she teaches provide her students with the opportunity to earn valuable work-related credentials.
"When the Microsoft classes were first made available, Mrs. Barnes was recognized at the N.C. CTE summer conference for having the most student certifications in the state."
The educator's roots at CBA began well before her teaching career, when she was a student and then graduate of the school.
"Her mother and father were both members of the first graduating class at CBA," Radford said, adding, "Mrs. Barnes has been an excellent teacher and role model for her son, Anderson. Currently, he is following in his mother's footsteps as a business teacher at Eastern Wayne High School."
Mrs. Barnes is also an adviser for the career and technical student organization, Future Business Leaders of America, encouraging students to participate in events and competitions at both the regional and state levels in community service.
Casey, in his 14th year as a technology education instructor, began his teaching career in Lenoir County and in Wayne County has also taught at Grantham and Fremont schools and Brogden Middle School.
At Norwayne, he is adviser for the Technology Student Association club and had been named 2013-2014 North Carolina TSA Adviser of the Year.
"Casey serves on the committee to implement the new STEM East Regional competitions at Lenoir Community College," he said. "In addition, he is the middle school representative for Wayne County STEM Fair and will present at the state CTE conference this summer, where the focus will be 'Writing Lessons for Middle School 3-D Printing.'"
In January, Casey was chosen to be a member of the Pitsco "tag team," Radford said.
"This team is compiled of 24 CTE, math/science teachers from across the U.S.," he said. "This enables Norwayne students to be a part of the cutting edge of technology."
Casey has also served on the test item writing committee for the state's Department of Public Instruction and in the spring of 2015 won a grant from CenturyLink for a new 3-D printer.
He is currently writing new lessons for middle school 3-D printing that will be shared with core class teachers, Radford said.
"Over the years, he has worked with many students and encouraged them to compete with TSA," he said. "Several of his students have earned first place honors at both the state and national level.
"This year, 11 of his students will represent North Carolina and compete in Nashville, Tenn. with TSA."