By Staff
TEACHER OF THE YEAR Janet McLin, left, Meridian school superintendent, surprises Lowell Hummer, a Magnolia Middle School teacher, with a bouquet of flowers. Hummer was honored Monday as the Meridian Public School District's Teacher of the Year. Photo by Steve Gillespie / The Meridian Star
By Steve Gillespie/staff writer
Jan. 15, 2002
Even though Lowell Hummer knew she had been nominated for Teacher of the Year, she was still shocked when the city's school superintendent told her she won.
Janet McLin surprised Hummer at Magnolia Middle School on Monday with news of the award and a bouquet of flowers. Hummer cried.
Hummer believes an award like Teacher of the Year holds the recipient to a high standard. She said it reminds the teacher that they are representing the entire school district every time they stand before their class.
This is Hummer's 22nd year as a teacher, all of them spent at Magnolia Middle School. This year, Hummer is teaching sixth- and seventh-grade art and Spanish.
Principals in the school district nominate an educator from their school for Teacher of the Year.
A district-wide committee reviews the entries and selects the recipient. Hummer will now be considered for the statewide Teacher of the Year award.
Hummer, 52, has a master's degree in education from Mississippi State University and is a National Board Certified Teacher.
She said she pursued a career in education after becoming a single mother. For 14 years before that, she worked as a freelance reporter in Jackson.
Hummer said memories of her sixth-grade teacher at Utica Consolidated School who "was always full of new ideas" also inspired her to become an educator.