Central Middle School agriculture teacher Lucas Brock is the 2023-2024 Carroll County Schools Teacher of the Year.
In only his fourth year of teaching, Brock has amassed quite a trophy case with stints as National Association of Agriculture Educators Turn the Key winner in 2020 and Georgia Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association Outstanding Early Career Teacher of the Year in 2022. He started the Central Middle agriculture education program in 2019 and has helped students win numerous area and state competitions including Georgia FFA North Region Chapter of the Year Awards the last three years running. In 2020, FFA recognized the CMS chapter as one of the top five chapters in the nation.
Kelly Edwards who was principal at CMS through 2022 and is now principal at Central High School said he has never seen someone as driven and passionate as Brock.
“Mr. Brock has taken a newly formed middle school agricultural education program to heights well beyond anyone’s imagination in such a short time,” Edwards said. “Mr. Brock has created an atmosphere within the school where a variety of students are now interested in agricultural education. We have numerous students who have excelled in all aspects of school life due to the love and desire Mr. Brock shares for these programs.”
Temple High School business teacher Amanda Wilson is the system runner-up. A 15-year veteran teacher, Wilson has chaired the business education department at THS since 2020.
“We are very proud of Mr. Brock and Mrs. Wilson as well as each of this year’s 26 school winners. Mr. Brock and Mrs. Wilson represent the best of the best in Carroll County,” Superintendent Scott Cowart said. “We all wish Mr. Brock the very best as he goes on to represent 1,028 classroom teachers in our district at statewide competition. We are all pulling for him!”
Brock and Wilson were announced as winners Thursday, October 20 at a celebration for all 26 school-level Carroll County School System teachers of the year. Community representatives who served as judges, sponsors of the Teacher of the Year event, school and system representatives and board of education members attended the event as a part of the evening’s board meeting.
The Teacher of the Year competition begins each year when each school’s faculty selects a school winner. All school winners complete a written application which is reviewed by a panel of community judges. The panel of judges selects finalists and visits their classrooms for in-person evaluations.
Finalists who were announced in September were Brock, Wilson, Lauren Cramer from Bay Springs Middle School and Anna Ellis from Sharp Creek Elementary School. This year’s community judges were Susan Hale from Synovus; Dr. Jill Drake from University of West Georgia and Jimmy Garrett from Midway Church.
“It was an exciting night to celebrate an amazing group of educators,” Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Dr. Christi Teal said. “We are fortunate in Carroll County to have dedicated, caring, innovative teachers who are committed to positively changing lives. Their hard work is what makes the difference in the lives of students and makes our district a premier choice.”
The Teacher of the Year celebration was supported by premier sponsors: J&R Construction, Southwire, Southern A&E LLC, Jill Duncan State Farm Insurance, ESS, Georgia Power Northwest Credit Union, Tommy’s Express Car Wash, 3:16 Healthcare, Southern States Bank, Truist Bank, the UPS Store, the Whorton Agency, J. Smith Lanier, Educator’s First, and KBS.
For more information about the Carroll County School System, visit carrollcountyschools.com.
