Jenkins Among NCCAT A. Craig Phillips Honored Educator Scholars
Reba Jenkins, a teacher at H.B. Sugg Elementary School, has been selected as an A. Craig Phillips Honored Educator Scholar for 2023-24 as announced by the Development Foundation of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT).
Each year, the A. Craig Phillips Honored Educator Scholarship Fund provides for three kindergarten teachers from North Carolina to attend the professional development programming of their choice. This scholarship serves as a memorial in perpetuity to Dr. Phillips, an outstanding North Carolinian who spent his life finding ways to strengthen administrators, empower teachers and motivate parents to support education for all children.
The 2023-24 school year will mark Jenkins' third on the Sugg staff and sixth overall in the Pitt County Schools system. She served as a dual language kindergarten teacher at Belvoir Elementary from 2018 to 2021, moved to Sugg for a first grade assignment in 2021-22 before returning to the K classroom last year.
Selected as the inaugural PCS Beginning Teacher of the Year in 2019, Jenkins was also a regional finalist for NCCAT's BT of North Carolina Award. She was a participant in Pitt County's Teacher Executive Institute and remains actively engaged in many leadership and community outreach initiatives that has helped her obtain 13 grants to provide the most engaging lessons and classroom supplies, while also expanding professional development opportunities to enhance student advocacy. Jenkins has represented her grade level as a chair on the School Leadership Team and led her school's diversity committee, using training from Participate Learning to collaborate with team members to create resources to ensure all cultures are being represented.
"To best describe the teacher leader I aspire to be, I often think of the quote, 'I never lose. I either win or learn,'" Jenkins said. "Having the desire to learn and to be coachable is what I strive for each day. Trainings I have participated in have taught me how to hold crucial conversations, serve as an equity partner and overcome the unconscious bias which has helped shape me into a teacher leader who has a desire to never stop learning."
Jenkins is a 2018 summa cum laude graduate of East Carolina University, earning a bachelor's of science degree in elementary education.
The scholarship covers costs associated with a teacher’s participation in the NCCAT program, including payment for the educator’s substitute teacher while in attendance. Additionally, Jenkins will receive $250 for use in her classroom.
About NCCAT
NCCAT supports teachers and impacts students with high-quality professional development. Increasing teacher effectiveness is fundamental to improving public education. NCCAT provides teachers with new knowledge, skills, teaching methods, best practices, and information to take back to their classrooms. For more information about NCCAT’s professional development programs, visit www.nccat.org or call 828-293-5202.
