Andrea Krell was named Madison County’s District Teacher of the Year at the Golden Apple Teacher Recognition banquet on Thursday, Feb. 4.
The evening of good food, music and conversation took place in Madison County High School’s cafeteria.
Beginning the night’s program, the night’s Master of Ceremonies, Julius Hackett offered a warm welcome to all those who had gathered to support the county’s teachers by attending the banquet. After the invocation, dinner was served while local musicians, Jay Hicks and Lynne Sapp offered music to accompany the evening.
A silent auction was extended to the evening’s guests and an assortment of unique items momentarily tempted buyers away from the wonderfully prepared and served dinner.
Robin Smith and her culinary students provided the delicious food for the evening.
Towards the end of the dinner, Gina Rutherford came forward to the podium and spoke about the Take Stock in Children Scholarship program. The program is celebrating 21 years of providing low-income students college scholarships as well as mentoring and providing directional help from elders to keep them focused on their education.
After Rutherford’s brief but heartfelt speech to the audience, Hackett again took to the podium to give recognition to the teachers who were nominated for Teacher of the Year.
Each teacher came forward with their school’s principal and a previous or current student, all who provided heartfelt, sometimes humorous or sentimental words for the teacher they had nominated.
In the end, it was clear that while only one teacher could receive the award as Teacher of the Year, every educator that had been nominated was duly worthy of the honor and each had touched so many lives throughout their career.
As the night drew closer to the end, Julius Hackett again took to the podium and announced the winner of the 2016 Madison County District Teacher of the Year to be Andrea Krell, MCHS chemistry and chemistry honors teacher. Krell is also the teacher and mastermind for the new CTE course, power and energy.
Krell’s family surrounded her as she embraced her loved ones before stepping to the front to accept her title.
Krell spoke of how much she loves teaching and how it feels like “cheating” to be awarded for something she loves doing.
The night ended with an announcement of the winners of the silent auction and the attendees dispersed until next year, when another worthy teacher will win the title of District Teacher of the Year.
Andrea Krell, a chemistry, chemistry honors and power and energy teacher at Madison County High School was awarded the title of 2016 Teacher of the Year at the Golden Apple Teacher Recognition banquet on Thursday, Feb. 4. Pictured, from left to right, are: Tri-County Electric General Manager, Julius Hackett, the night’s Master of Ceremonies; and Madison County's Teacher of the Year, Andrea Krell.
For more coverage on the 2016 Teacher of the Year Banquet, please see page 7.
Pictured with Teacher of the Year Andrea Krell (left) is HR Manager at the Lee Nestle Bottling Plant, Travis Mitchell. Nestle awarded Krell with a recognition plaque as well as $500.