Teacher of the Week: Shirley Atkinson from C.M. Eppes Middle School

PITT COUNTY, NC (WITN) - This week’s Teacher of the Week for February 23 is Shirley Atkinson from C.M. Eppes Middle School.

Atkinson is a career technical education teacher. She teaches many different grade levels and disciplines, including sixth grade keyboarding, seventh grade office skills and eighth grade coding. She has been at the middle school for nearly 20 years.

Atkinson’s path to becoming a teacher wasn’t so straightforward. Growing up in Pitt County, she worked on her family farm in Farmville for many years before working at Vidant Medical Center for 27 years. During her time at the hospital, she also worked at Pitt County Schools and went on to earn her master’s degree in education from Capella University. She also holds a degree in Business Education from ECU.

Atkinson says her time as a Girl Scout leader first inspired her to become a teacher.

In her classroom, Atkinson helps students learn to type, format documents and learn about business. She says one of the most important aspects of teaching is communication skills and forming professional relationships with her students. She says she has a passion to teach and that it “requires a lot of patience and being flexible.”

Beyond the classroom, Atkinson is a Student Government Association advisor. She says one of her greatest joys is being able to “work with students and show them leadership skills.”

The person who nominated Ms. Atkinson wrote, “I nominate Shirley Atkinson at C.M. Eppes Middle School for Teacher of the Week .

She always has a positive attitude and always has a smile under her mask. She always brings smiles to everyone she talks to, too.

She genuinely cares for the students, she is a positive role model and she has great leadership skills.

Shirley Atkinson loves to give back to the community by providing shoe boxes filled with necessities for the homeless. Ms. Atkinson also has organized several can food drives at C.M. Eppes to provide for the community food bank

She always rewards her students for doing the best they can and she always makes time to listen to her students.”

Congratulations Ms. Atkinson!

Every week during the school year WITN will recognize a Teacher of the Week on WITN News at Sunrise. The winner receives a plaque and $100 gift card for school supplies.

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