Golden Apple Award: Diana Buchanan, Joyland Christian Academy

FORT OGLETHORPE, GA (WDEF) — Learning begins in the very earliest days of childhood. Diana Buchanan sees proof of that every day in her Pre-K 3 class at Joyland Christian Academy.  She equips her students with the skills they’ll need to become the best they can be. That’s what earned Ms. Buchanan this week’s Golden Apple Award.

“She’s always coming to work. She’s always happy. She’ll be making sure these kids are well-taken care of. And she does wonderful with them. Always making sure they’re doing arts and crafts, interacting with the parents, making sure she can do whatever she can, to take care of them. Just everyday things that you need to do to take care of children,” said Heather Templeton, Assistant Director at Joyland Christian Academy Inc.

“I love kids. I love taking care of people. I love helping people. I love to have fun. I’m never serious. I’m the potty training expert. I know that, I’m a mom, a stepmom, I’m a wife, sister, friend. I have a moment,” said Diana Buchanan, a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher at Joyland Christian Academy Inc.

“The fun story of life got me back into teaching. Joyland was actually my first job outside of high school. I’m not going to say how many years ago. But it was my first job out of high school. Then life happened. I was at Siskin Hospital being CNA. And I ended up pregnant. My mom had passed away. So I didn’t really have anybody to keep my baby. And hours don’t really coincide with hospital hours. So we just decided to come back to the land of joy and so I’m here helping other kids and my kid gets the privilege of daycare and making friends,” said Buchanan.

“It’s so rewarding. It’s so fun. Seeing the kids light up, hearing the things that they retain, they go home. They become part of my life.I love the satisfaction of them glowing when they’ve learned something. They feel safe, they feel… uhm… smarter. They’re proud of themselves. It’s, it’s the best feeling in the world building them up. You can’t be too serious. You have to have fun and joke and laugh and play and dance. Otherwise, you’re not going to keep them occupied.
Can we clean up these locks so we can do some circle time? I hope that they remember that I cared, that they had a teacher who actually cared, and did her best to help raise good humans. Because that’s all we can do,” said Buchanan.