2021 Extraordinary Educators: Michelle Lovett
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 eight articles, we will highlight our 2021 High Point Extraordinary Educators as we dive deeper into what keeps them motivated in the face of constant challenges.
Michelle Lovett
Since 2004, Michelle Lovett has been working at Southwest Guilford High School. She feels the community is a “good fit” because she loves “what she teaches and who she teaches.” Referencing Southwest Guilford High School, Lovett states the school’s “leadership has been strong” and her “staff of colleagues are great people who care about kids.”
Micahel Hettenbach, the principal at Southwest Guilford High School, says Ms. Lovett’s knowledge and passion for science filters into her students and colleagues.”
According to Hettenbach, “She cares about her students, sets very high expectations, and maximizes student potential while problem-solving the challenges we faced during the pandemic. She truly embraced addressing the barriers of her students and colleagues in order to find better ways or technological skills to make things more efficient for everyone.”
Mrs. Lovett “wants everyone to know they are ‘science people.’ Science has such a place in our lives, knowing basics and how to think and question like a scientist is important for all our communities and the problems we solve together. This world belongs to our kids – they need to know and understand how it works.”
“Then, to the parents of my students specifically, I have their kid’s back and I want to see them succeed as much as you do.”
Q: What inspired you to become an educator?
A: I am a lateral entry teacher; I worked in environmental geology before I was a teacher. I love how applicable science is to live and understanding the physical world. I enjoyed bringing the application of a subject I’m passionate about to students. Subjects are more meaningful to learn when students understand why and how things are needed “out there.”
Q: What’s your teaching/leadership style?
A: I am enthusiastic and super passionate about my subject. I am no-nonsense; I hold the bar high and hold high expectations. I say what I mean, I mean what I say. Kids really like that type of consistency because they know what to expect.
Q: Do you have a classroom motto or philosophy you abide by? Why?
A: Oooh lots of these – I will go with the most current and most applicable for all. School is more about learning to work hard for yourself than any specific subject. In reality, kids can find their passions in school and our courses are just teaching them to do what it takes to get what they want. In a teenage place where many kids want the easy way out, they need to know – “Hard things are worth doing.”
Q: What’s your favorite part about every day?
A: Any day that has a “light bulb” moment – when that glimmer of understanding comes out in conversation with peers. And all those students who take little fun facts and class snippets about biology home and share with their families. Students engaging with a subject you love makes for a good day, every day.
Q: What’s your most memorable moment as an educator?
A: There are several. Memorable moments are hard to contextualize. Sometimes they are funny moments, like when the newts escaped from their containers during lab. Students who come back to tell us about their successes are always fantastic to hear from. But as an educator, I can always count on field trips to be memorable. Something about learning in the field makes the memories – 9th grade biology field camp, AP marine biology, and all the local trips. Science is meant to be studied outside.
Thank you so much to Michelle Lovett for your dedication to High Point’s students. Congratulations on being selected as your school’s 2021 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