Lakewood has S.C.'s Spanish Teacher of Year

ELIZABETH SANDERSON

By JASON WERMERS
Item Content Team Leader
jwermers@theitem.com

Simplemente, la mejor.

Simply, the best.

That's what the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society says Lakewood High School teacher Elizabeth Sanderson is — the state's best Spanish instructor.

Sanderson was named South Carolina's 2009 Spanish Teacher of the Year during a ceremony Thursday evening at The Citadel in Charleston.

The award is presented annually by The Citadel's chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, which is the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society.

"I'm very proud of her," Lakewood Principal Sherril Ray said Friday. "We have a very strong Spanish department. We have just two teachers this year."

It was the other Spanish teacher and a former student of Sanderson's, Jamie Lessard, who nominated Sanderson for the award.

"She wrote that (Sanderson) was her inspiration to become a Spanish teacher," Ray said of Lessard.

Sanderson received $1,000 and a plaque during the ceremony. She and the other two finalists — Maria C. Hood of Polo Road Elementary School in Columbia, and Hollis R. Wilkes of Sara Collins Elementary School in Greenville — also each received a one-night stay for two courtesy of the Francis Marion Hotel in downtown Charleston.

Nominees from across South Carolina were judged on their innovation in the classroom, initiative in developing Spanish curriculum, and their efforts to develop themselves as instructors.

"Elizabeth was selected for her impressive and diverse teaching accomplishments in and outside of her school, as well as for her outstanding role in disseminating the Hispanic language and culture in South Carolina," said Mark Del Mastro, professor of Spanish and founder and director of the awards program, in a news release.

Sanderson serves as co-adviser of the Spanish Club at Lakewood, and has been the coordinator of the annual Hispanic Cultural Fair and the Service Learning Project at Pocalla Springs Elementary School. She also is co-author of Sumter School District 2's foreign language lesson plans.

She received a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y., and a master's degree from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.

"I think it's an honor for the school," Ray said of Sanderson's award. "But also, it brings recognition to the fact that we are competitive with other schools in the state. We have that quality of teacher right here in Sumter, at Lakewood. It says a lot for the school."


Contact Content Team Leader Jason Wermers at jwermers@theitem.com or (803) 774-1225.