Hard work has rewards

Managing editor

[email protected]

After claiming local and state awards, an Elida middle school teacher is waiting to see if she won at the national level.

Paula Tibbs was nominated for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Smart/Maher National Citizenship Education Teacher Award for middle school teacher of the year.

Tibbs said fellow teacher Darla Reed told her she had been nominated, but after winning the district award, which includes teachers from Clovis, Portales and Tucumcari, the phone call that came as a pleasant surprise to her was from a VFW official. That call reported she qualified to be entered for the same award on the state level.

“When he notified me that I had won at the state level, I felt very proud of that,” Tibbs said. “I work hard in the classroom and my students work hard, so to receive that kind of recognition is a huge honor, especially from the VFW. I have a lot of veterans in my family, and I greatly respect them for what they do and what they stand for.”

Portales VFW Post 9515 Trustee Scott Underbrink, who is in charge of the local contest each year, said the award goes to teachers who show strong leadership and excel in “Americanism” by working with their students on VFW student essay contests Voice of Democracy and Patriot Pins.

At the district level, Reed won the Smart/Maher award for high school teacher of the year and Elida High School student Andrea Goodwin won the Voice of Democracy contest, which required a student to give a three- to five-minute speech with a specific patriotic theme.

Former Portales Junior High School student Emmalyn Vest won the district-level Patriot Pin Award.

Underbrink said Tibbs’ application has been submitted for the national award, which would entail education funds for Tibbs and Elida schools. He said results should be released sometime next week.

Officials said eight districts compete for the state award.

“She explains stuff better than a lot of teachers,” said Elida seventh-grader Logan Victor, 12. Logan said Tibbs provides students with more fun alternatives to learning, such as when students played a version of Battleship to help them learn math.

Tibbs said being in a smaller school district with a closer bond between teachers helps with the level of success.

“It’s nice when someone you work with thinks you should be nominated for something like this,” Tibbs said. “It’s really nice to work in a school environment where teachers have a close enough bond to nominate each other for awards.”

link Alisa Boswell: Staff photo

Elida Middle School teacher Paula Tibbs works with Logan Victor on Thursday afternoon in their seventh-grade social studies class.

Underbrink said a ceremony will be held at the local VFW at 7 p.m. on Feb. 19, to honor the local winners.