In business, the classroom or on the basketball court, it takes teamwork and determination to achieve success. Those are common elements in the life of Michelle Arp, the business education teacher at Armuchee High and the 2017 Teacher of the Year for Floyd County Schools. Arp was named Teacher of the Year at the October Floyd County Board of Education meeting held on Thursday, October 13, 2016.
“In the classroom, I like for my class to be active and we work together to achieve the desired results,” stated Arp, who is also the Lady Indians head basketball coach at Armuchee High. “Just like on the basketball court, it takes working together and a focus on how you can work as a team to achieve a better outcome for each participant and for the team.”
Michelle Arp is not only a teacher and girl’s head basketball coach, but she is also Business Department chair, and sponsor of Future Business Leaders of America and Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Armuchee. She is in her eleventh year of teaching and has been at Armuchee High for ten. Ms. Arp is an Armuchee High graduate and completed her undergraduate degree at Shorter College. She received a master’s degree from the University of Georgia and a specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University.
“Each day I welcome students into the classroom, it is my goal to inspire them to become their best, to believe they can, challenge them to work through problems and have a desire to succeed,” Arp wrote in her teacher of the year application. “It is the moment when you see a student’s face light up with a smile that represents a life connection that makes each day gratifying.”
Arp was selected for the Teacher of the Year honor by a review committee from the Rome/Floyd Retired Educators Association. She will now represent Floyd County Schools in the Georgia Teacher of the Year recognition program. The Georgia Teacher of the Year will be announced by the Georgia Department of Education in the spring.
The Teacher of the Year program in Floyd County Schools is sponsored by Coosa Valley Credit Union. The organization provides a $100 gift check to each finalist in the teacher recognition program and a $500 gift check to the Teacher of the Year. Northwest Georgia Credit Union has sponsored the system Teacher of the Year recognition program for more than 20 years.
Arp; Keith Reedy, a special education teacher at Pepperell High School; and Sue Turnquist, a fifth-grade teacher at Model Elementary were the finalist for the 2017 Teacher of the Year for Floyd County Schools.
