Burgaw Middle School is proud to announce the 2021 - 2022 Teacher of the Year, Amy Lawson. As eighth grade team leader for the last thirteen years, she’s served as head of BMS’ Science Department for the last twelve years and has been the coach for the school’s Science Olympiad team for fifteen years. Amy has been teaching at Burgaw Middle School since 2002 and serves as a School Improvement Team member, not to mention her role as a Mentor Teacher to new teachers. Her impressive roles are an inspiration to the students and staff members in her school, and the strong work ethic she displays on a daily basis only proves how valuable and important of a role model she is.
Amy is married to Craig Lawson and they have two children together – one daughter named Taylor who just turned twenty-one and is graduating from Liberty University this summer, and one son named Hayden who is in the fifth grade at CF Pope Elementary School. Growing up in Northern Virginia, she graduated from West Springfield High School. Before becoming a teacher, she was able to travel to the Dolphin Research Center and spent time working with and learning about the dolphins and sea lions that reside there. Her parents moved to Wimington in 2013 to be closer to her and her family. She has also traveled to Sweden and conducted research on copepods at the Kristineberg Marine Research Station.
Besides coaching the Science Olympiad team, she has coached softball, volleyball, and SeaPerch for a number of years. Her coaching is not about winning or losing – she believes it’s about building up children with good character and morals, and teaching what it means to work hard and strive to do their best. She teaches all of her teams to represent their community of Burgaw with pride. Many of her past students and athletes have come back to volunteer their time to help her continue coaching respectful and hard working individuals. Two of her former students that came back to help coach went to school to become teachers themselves. She also has worked with Pender Early College students over the years to get their service learning hours by letting them work with her students and athletes. Amy currently has a former student that comes in on Tuesdays to work in her classroom for his Pender Early College service hours and wants to go to school to be a science teacher just like her.
Contrary to belief, Lawson’s school year doesn’t end at the start of summer break – she has taught Student Discover Summer Camp for four years and has even taught summer school for Pender County for several years as well. Interestingly enough, she taught summer school during the first three years of her teaching career in Pender County. Last summer was the first summer she didn’t teach summer school when the county offered it due to COVID-19 issues, but that didn’t bring her down. Amy has also donated toys, food, clothing, and money to Burgaw Middle School and Pender County on multiple occasions during fundraisers and when the opportunity arises. She teaches after school every Monday with BMS’ Twenty-First Century afterschool program, which include STEM activities such as building and launching bottle rockets, designing boats to hold the most weight and not sink, designing rockets and planes and testing them, and various other hands-on activities.
Deemed a partnership teacher with UNCW, she’s had two interns work for her. Amy Lawson graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BS in Marine Biology and a BA in Middle Grades Education. She has been a member of NCAE for eighteen years and some of her professional development experiences include Keys to Vocabulary, Social and Emotional Learning for Education from NC State University, Science Olympiad Coaches workshops, NCTIES, Student Discovery Planning Sessions, and she even completed the NCCAT teacher leader professional development with Keanan Fellows. She has conducted a book study at BMS on The Dream Keepers and The Leader in Me, attended the National Science Teachers convention in Greensboro, and has visited Dr. Thompson’s classroom at UNCW to speak with her students about being an educator. A previous student intern of hers from UNCW has moved on to become a successful teacher in Pender County, which Amy had helped start up her first Science Olympiad team at Cape Fear Middle School.
So what’s in the works for Burgaw Middle School’s Teacher of the Year? She’ll be an upcoming Science Olympiad Mentor to a new team from Camden County, NC and will be participating in the Sci-Fest partnership with UNCW, who plan to visit BMS’ eighth graders to discuss college life and STEM. Was it mentioned that she’ll also continue to be an amazing educator, mom, and an inspiration to all who meet her? Congratulations, Mrs. Lawson. Burgaw Middle School is proud to have you as part of their Red Devil family!