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The most important quality for a teacher is to be accessible.
And what I mean by that is not to merely be available when
students need you or want to ask a question. But to be accessible as a human being.
The 2012 RJ Reynolds Excellence in Teaching Award Winner – Stephanie Tolliver Osborne,
Gaston College.
I hope my students can look at me and say Ms. Osborne loves what she does. I want to
get into a career where I can feel the same way.
Stephanie, or Miss O as her students call her, teaches English at Gaston College.
Her charisma and love for teaching is recognized by students and colleagues.
You watch her in a classroom and she’s just all over,
full of energy and enthusiasm and she gets the students involved in that
and I need to do more of that myself and it was really, really an inspiration to me.
Miss O was the first instructor who actually acknowledged my
writing abilities and steered me towards it.
She took a special interest in me, but it’s not like I was a special case.
You can tell with the way that she interacted with others students
that she takes interest in all of her students.
Miss O connects with her students on a personal level whether in the classroom, online,
or in the college Writing Center which she helped to start.
And I could see the color going the walls, books on the shelves and people typing at
computers.
It could not have happened if we were not fortunate enough to receive the Belk Foundation
grant.
I think we seek to invest in the best. And certainly Gaston College and its faculty
including Stephanie exemplify how relevant and important community colleges are.
I’ve worked in the past 25 years in 3 university writing centers.
And I’ll tell you what that writing center is as professional
as any of those university writing centers that I’ve seen.
Both in the quality of the tutors and how she trains them
and the things that she expects them to do.
Gaston College needed a writing center. We see all subjects: math, psychology, history…not
just English papers. If there’s a writing assignment or a writing
question, the student can come and get help from a professional.
She does the same thing in her classroom that she does in the writing center.
She makes a safe place for students to say I need some help.
I think that’s what a really good teacher does.
She has the ability to make people feel at home.
She has a very approachable, caring kind of vibe about her.
The most rewarding part of teaching is knowing that
what you have done in the classroom if you touched one person,
if something that day – one thing you said – changed a person’s life
…what a gift that is to be able to share that.
Congratulations Miss O. You honestly genuinely deserve this.
And thank you so much for being the best teacher I’ve ever had.
Congratulations. Good for you. You go girl.
Hi Stephanie, congratulations on your award. I want to be like you when I grow up.
On behalf of the board of trustees, the faculty, the staff
and most importantly the students of Gaston College,
I want to express our appreciation and congratulations to you Stephanie for this major award.
Winning this award has changed my life. It has reinvigorated me in many ways
and I cannot say how much it means to be recognized for this.
How much it means to me to be able to represent Gaston College at the state level and the
feeling inside that teaching is where I’m supposed to be.
And that this system is my home for my career. So thank you for acknowledging that and
for all the opportunities that I’ve been given.
It means the world to me.