Photo: From Facebook

Snow HIll - Snow Hill Primary recently named 1st Grade Teacher, Margaret D’Jernes as this year’s Teacher of the Year. She graduated in 2017 and joined the staff at SHP immediately following. She shared that she completed her clinical teaching experiences at SHP and fell in love with the community so as soon as she had a chance she wanted to return to Snow Hill.

D’Jernes attended East Carolina University majoring in Elementary Education with a Concentration in Reading. She shared, “I love the people I work with and being able to help my students grow and to build relationships with them.”

She shared that during Covid she had to learn to adapt and that in the end, it made her a better teacher. “Covid was obviously a big challenge for everyone in education but this year in particular has been difficult. Due to budgeting constraints, I did not have an assistant and shared assistants with 3 other classes meaning I had a revolving door of help throughout the day that my students and myself had to get accustomed to. “

D’Jernes shared “My advice to my colleagues and other teachers would be to build a good support system inside and out of school, teaching is really really hard and can weigh heavy some days so you will need a strong team to talk through problems and come up with ideas. Some days you will need them to cry and rant too.”

To her students, she shared “Keep reading as much as you. can and learn about your interests and you will become a lifelong learner.”

When not inspiring the young minds of 1st grade at SHP, Ms. D’Jernes can be found reading or visiting with her family in the Mountains of North Carolina and in Chapel Hill. D’Jernes will go on to compete for the title of Greene County Schools Teacher of the Year which will be announced in May.