Snow Hill, NC - On Friday, April 19, Greene County Schools named Ms. Joanne Duncan as the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year. Ms. Duncan teaches Culinary Arts at Greene Central High School. She was wonderfully surprised and brought to tears with the news during an event her students were catering for the Greene County School Board of Education and Greene Central High School student leaders. 

Ms. Duncan has taught at Greene Central High School since 2018. Since she started, Ms. Duncan has done an excellent job at incorporating her students’ families and cultures into their education. Students will talk about foods their parents typically make at home and she has even invited some of those parents to come in and prepare those foods. 

Dr. Rodney McNeill states that in her interview, “her passion and her love for culinary arts, was remarkable. She is a model for what having high expectations for a student looks like.” Ms. Duncan’s students cater for multiple events throughout the school district and county. They have a true passion for quality service that was instilled in them by her. The love that her students have for her is evident in the way they represent the Culinary Arts program at these events. 

The process for choosing Teacher of the Year starts between March and May when eachindividual school selects its Teacher of the Year representative. They may each have a different process for doing this. Once each school forwards their nominee to the district level, a panel iscreated. This year the panel consisted of Dr. Rodney McNeill, Mrs. Leigh Garner, Mrs. GwenSmith, and Mrs. Jada Mumford. They interview each nominee extensively and then sit down tomake a tough decision, as all the nominees have outstanding qualities. Ms. Duncan was selectedthis year and her passion for education truly shines through in her role.