The LCPS Prize Patrol surprised Gabi Register, a fourth-grade teacher at Moss Hill Elementary School, with the award as the 2023-2024 LCPS Beginning Teacher of the Year. On hand for the announcement were, from left, Moss Hill principal Jeremy Barnett, LCPS HR Director Pam Heath, Associate Superintendent Frances Herring, Superintendent Brent Williams, Miss Register, Beginning Teacher Support Coordinator Jennifer Sutton, Miss Register's mentor Kayla Harris and Beginning Teacher Coordinator Lynn Morris.

Gabi Register hasn’t been teaching all that long, but she’s been teaching long enough to know hers is a demanding occupation where success depends on attitude as much as aptitude.

“Stay positive,” she said when asked what advice she would give young people starting out in the classroom. “That’s the key for me. There will be days when you feel totally defeated, but you have to stay positive and surround yourself with positive people.”

The advice is worth heeding since it comes from the young woman just named LCPS’s Beginning Teacher of the Year for 2023-2024. The district honor puts Register, a fourth-grader teacher at Moss Hill Elementary, in the running for the statewide award presented by the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

She belongs in that select group, according to Kayla Harris, the veteran teacher who is Register’s mentor at Moss Hill.

“Gabi's willingness to work in a team environment is unmatched. She is dedicated to the success of her students and is eager to learn best practices,” Harris said. “She is an asset to the teaching profession and especially to Moss Hill.”

Register’s affinity for Moss Hill Elementary comes naturally. She was a student there – and a student at Woodington Middle before graduating from Lenoir County Early College High School in 2019 with both a high school diploma and an associate of arts degree. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from UNC-Wilmington in 2021.

The Beginning Teacher of the Year award is open to educators in their second year of service. Register was chosen on the basis of classroom observations, participation in beginning teacher meetings and conversations with mentors and principals.

“Recognizing early-career teachers offers a boost of confidence,” said Lynn Morris, LCPS’s Beginning Teacher Coordinator and organizer of the district’s selection process. “Recognizing them also provides validation that their teacher preparation program, mentorship and administrative leadership are working for them.”

In preparing for the NCCAT state award, Register will submit a professional portfolio to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. The North Carolina Beginning Teacher of the Year award is to be announced Feb. 15.