This article is part of a series by The Vicksburg Post, in partnership with the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, featuring each of the nominees for teacher of the year honors. 

Stormy Dupre, a Pre-K teacher at Dana Road Elementary School, encourages her students to try their best during the school year.

She starts off each school year with a lesson called, “I like myself.” Each student has the opportunity to discuss the things that they find great about themselves and their classmates.

“This early introduction to trying allows for the students to grasp that we will all try our best throughout the school year,” Dupre said. 

Dupre is a finalist for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Educator of the Year award. The chamber will select and announce one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon on Feb. 15. The winner of each award will receive $1,000 from Ameristar Casino and the runner-up for each award will receive $500 from Mutual Credit Union. 

Dupre started teaching in 2014 at Timberlawn Elementary in Jackson. Then in 2017, she began teaching at Sherman Avenue Elementary School. Afterward, Dupre began teaching at Dana Road in 2018. Dupre received her undergraduate degree at Alcorn State University in child development. 

In her classroom, she explained the other lessons and activities she has planned for her students, such as a center activity called “Dramatic Play.”

“On a bi-weekly schedule, I can rotate themes to teach life skills to my students. The students can cook and solve other real-life problems while also developing math and ELA skills,” Dupre said in her Educator of the Year application.

She added that these kinds of activities help her students develop life and social skills in a contained and safe environment. 

To further her student’s academic achievements, Dupre tries to go beyond the classroom to help with her student’s improvement. Her solution is to host viral parent classes once a week and teach the parents new skills as if they were her students.

“I’ve noticed that parents truly want to help their children achieve more, they just lack some of the skills need to do so,” she said..

She continues to explain that the parents “learning these lessons allows them to help their young scholars at home. My students are, in turn, better able to practice skills with the connection of home and class.” 

“The home-to-school connection is the key to the advancement of my students.”

stated Dupre, “So it’s the best feeling as a teacher is to see my students improve.”