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 Educator of the Year nominees.

 

Sherman Avenue Elementary School kindergarten teacher Rena Henderson said the reason she teaches is “because greatness will come.”

For her students, that greatness is her. Henderson 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. 17. 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.

“My most moving educational experience continues to be the moment when my students accomplish their educational goal by learning how to read, write and comprehend for the first time,” said Henderson, who is in the midst of her first full year as a kindergarten teacher at Sherman Avenue. She took the lead of her kindergarten classroom last December.

Before being named a kindergarten teacher at Sherman Avenue in December 2019, Henderson joined the Vicksburg Warren School District in December 2019 as a substitute teacher. In August 2014, she joined the team at Warren Central Intermediate as a teacher assistant.

“I set high and clear expectations for quality work,” Henderson wrote in her Educator of the Year application. “I encourage my students to read and write their thoughts and ideas through journaling and abstract activities to improve overall learning.”

She received a bachelor’s degree in child development from Alcorn State University in 2009. She then earned a master’s degree in early childhood development from Grand Canyon University in 2014, before earning a master’s in education from Jackson State University in June.