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Home » News » Art Education Alumni Brittany Dean Wins Teacher of the Year at Alfred I. Dupont Middle School

Art Education Alumni Brittany Dean Wins Teacher of the Year at Alfred I. Dupont Middle School

Published January 17, 2018

The Department of Art Education would like to congratulate Art Education alumna Brittany Dean on being named Teacher of the Year at Alfred I. Dupont Middle School.

 

The EDDY Awards, an annual event celebrating Duval County’s leading and inspiring teachers, is a time-honored tradition that has developed into its new mission to elevate the role of Jacksonville’s best teachers. The EDDY Awards is a venture of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, and it has evolved beyond an awards ceremony to build a network of exemplary teachers who are leaders in the community and who work to improve our schools, student performance and the teaching profession.

 

Dean was nominated by the faculty as the Teacher of the Year for Alfred I. Dupont Middle School to compete at the District Level. Administrators from various schools in Duval county reviewed all of the applicants and chose their top 30 to visit and observe them in a classroom setting.  Subsequently, they met together to choose the top 15 semifinalists, who will win a $1,000 Professional Learning Scholarship to pursue a professional learning experience of their choice. The next step for the semifinalists is to continue on to the interview process where the winner will be announced at the Eddy Awards on February 2nd.

A Middletown, New Jersey native, Dean graduated from Florida State University (FSU) with a Masters in Art Education in December of 2012 and with a Bachelors degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in Fine Arts.  During her time at FSU, she worked in the after-school program at the School of Arts and Sciences and volunteered her time to painting murals along Gaines Street. Dean has been working in Duval County for the past 5 years at Alfred I. DuPont Middle School.

 

In reflection of this honor, Dean states:

I am an advocate for Arts Integration in the school systems and this process has been so gratifying. Over the years, I have built the art department at my school from ground up.  The program was cut for a few years before my principal, Marilyn M. Barnwell, gave me a chance to prove that the Arts are an important piece of the development of the whole child in terms of Education.  I have had a great number of mentors who have helped me become the educator of my dreams. I come to work early and stay late, to guarantee that my lessons are engaging, structured and beneficial to my students learning. I also am the Yearbook adviser, Picture Day Chairman, Art Club Liaison, as well as a volunteer to anyone who needs a hand.

 

Congratulations, Brittany Dean, for this exceptional and outstanding achievement!