Golden Apple Award: Liz Stanfield, Boynton Elementary
RINNGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) – At Boynton Elementary, Liz Stanfield has a gift for making sure each one of her students believes that they are just as smart, capable and worthy as anybody else. One parent calls her a light in a career that is often overlooked, underpaid and criticized.
We decided to give Ms. Stanfield some well-deserved recognition with the Golden Apple Award.
Jennifer Scott is the principal at Boynton.
She says, “Ms. Stanfield is one of our most passionate teachers here at Boynton Elementary School. We just love her. She’s got a positive spirit, great energy every day. She loves her students. She’s got positive relationships with her students. She’s got great relationships with her parents and with the staff members, and she’s just top notch.”
When asked to describe herself Ms. Stanfield says, “Well, I am a lot of things. I’m a mom. I have a two-year-old son. I’m a wife, I’m a teacher, I’m a friend, I’m a daughter, I’m a sister.”
Students say, ” She is always helping us learn, and she keeps us from if we have a bad time to a good time. She’s always nice to us. She helps us when we’re having trouble reading something on AR when we’re having a bad day. She always helps us when we’re having a bad day and make it a good day for us. When we need help on our worksheets, she helps us so we can know what to do. She helps us when we’re distressed, when we go outside and when we fall, she helps us. She’s the best teacher I could probably have.”
Ms. Stanfield remembers, “I was homeschooled, and I had a great example of a teacher in my mom. And then we took some classes at other places, and I had some great examples there as well. So, all of those things motivated me through my experience to want to go on and do that with other kids.”
She continues, “I love the kids. You don’t do it for the early mornings or the long nights. You don’t do it for all the paperwork and the testing. You really do it for the kids. They are my absolute joy every single day. The legacy I would like to leave behind with my students is mutual respect. And at the end of the day, for me, every relationship I build with parents or students or coworkers falls back on mutual respect. Just a genuine knowledge that I truly care about them and want the best for them and want them to succeed.”
