Great communities have great schools. High Point Schools Partnership creates impactful connections between our schools and the wider community to ensure students and their families are supported and can reach their full potential in High Point schools.
Part of High Point Schools Partnerships’ mission is to improve the image of our schools through storytelling. Who better to tell the stories of High Point’s schools than the people experiencing it first-hand? In this series of articles, we will highlight our 2022 High Point Extraordinary Educators as we dive deeper into what keeps them motivated in the face of constant challenges.
2022 Extraordinary Educator: Stacey Clarke-Huie
Ms. Clarke-Huie started her teaching career at Ferndale Middle School in September 2021. The support from the administration and the warm and friendly staff has been some of the things that have kept her at Ferndale Middle School. The varying academic needs of the students there have also motivated her to stay as she enjoys helping students to learn and become the best that they can be.
Leslie Kinard, the principal of Ferndale Middle School, describes Ms. Clarke-Huie as someone who “worked diligently to ensure that our middle school students had the access and opportunity to excel while learning high school content.”
According to Kinard, Ms. Clarke-Huie “continues to persist in setting high expectations and standards for them.” “She worked with families and colleagues to learn more about her students and to make sure she was providing the best educational experience possible each day in her classroom.”
Ms. Clarke-Huie wants her students to know “that they are all born with the will to do well and excel. All they need to do is believe in themselves and they can move mountains.”
Q: What inspired you to become an educator?
A: My main inspiration to become an educator was my love for helping others to learn and succeed and also the need for math educators who really cared about the kids they teach and who made math exciting and interesting to the kids.
Q: What’s your teaching/leadership style?
A: My style of teaching includes being a demonstrator as well as being a facilitator because I at times demonstrate what I expect from my students and then I facilitate while they perform similar tasks for me. With math, many students learn through seeing what is to be done and they are always curious as to why it needs to be done that way, so demonstrating and then facilitating works for them.
Q: Do you have a classroom motto or philosophy you abide by? Why?
A: My classroom philosophy is whatever you put your mind to you can achieve and the only person that can stop you from doing your best is you. I tell them this and use it as my philosophy because oftentimes they are the ones who doubt themselves and limit themselves as to what they can do, so if they believe in themselves nothing can stop them. I tell my students too that if they can spell it they can do it. My reason being is that most of them come to me telling me that they cannot do the math, so that leads me to tell them that if they can spell math it means they can do it.
Q: What’s your favorite part about every day?
A: The best part about every day for me is to see a student who was struggling at the beginning of my class complete their exit activity on their own without assistance because they have learned the concept of the day.
Q: What’s your most memorable moment as an educator?
A: My most memorable moment as an educator was back home in my home country Jamaica when I had a group of 25 students prepare for examinations they all came to me with mixed feelings about doing math and I did my best to motivate and work with them at the end of the school year 21 of those students were successful, to date that stands out as my most memorable because when others thought they couldn’t do it, I believed in them and made them believe too that they could do it and they did.
Q: Is there any other information you would like us to share with the community?
A: I am from the beautiful island of Jamaica and I am here to help students excel and become the best version of themselves as I did with my students back home for the past 17 years.
Ms. Clarke-Huie is just one of High Point’s 2022 Extraordinary Educators. Tune in for the next few weeks to hear more stories and inspiring moments from our local teachers!
Thank you so much to Stacey Clarke-Huie for your dedication to High Point’s students. Congratulations on being selected as your school’s 2022 Extraordinary Educator!
To find out more about High Point Schools Partnership and our work, please visit our Facebook page and check out our page on Guilford Education Alliance’s website.
Article written by High Point Schools Partnership Staff
