For schoolteacher and Alabama Baptist Carolyn Lowery, winning last year’s Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award was a huge shock. For people who know her, such as Allison Sherril, the school principal who nominated her, Lowery got the recognition she deserved.
The national award is given to one outstanding teacher from each state. Lowery was selected from 22 Alabama nominees while teaching 5th grade at Oakdale Elementary in Tuscaloosa in the 1999-2000 school year. The award package included an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., and $1,500 cash.
“It was such a special gift to receive, because a lot of it was based on my students’ outstanding efforts,” said Lowery, a member of First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa.
Now teaching kindergarten at Northington Elementary in Tuscaloosa, Lowery said she has worked with children since she was 10. Each summer she would help her mother, also a schoolteacher, lead Vacation Bible School (VBS) at Highland Baptist Church in Florence — her childhood church and where she became a Christian. In high school she took over her own VBS class.
Lowery wasted no time pursuing her dream. She graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in early childhood education and received her master’s degree in the same field from Mississippi State in 1997.
For Lowery, faith is foremost to her success as a teacher. Prayer, planning and being a positive role model are also essential ingredients. She practiced these things long before she received the Sallie Mae award.
“I truly have to rely on my faith in Christ to guide me as a teacher, because I know I could not do it alone,” she said. Each morning Lowery prays for her school, her colleagues and her students. She also began a monthly teachers’ prayer breakfast this year.
As far as her students are concerned, “I like to give lots of hugs and smiles so that they will know that they are coming into a safe, fun learning environment,” Lowery said. “By being a positive role model and loving them, I hope they see Jesus.”
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