2001 Wake County Teacher of the Year
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2001 Finalists
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Cecilie Lewis
Centennial Campus Middle
Sixth-grade language arts and science teacher Cecilie Lewis believes that all children can learn.
"Over the last 10 years I have seen all children learn, but what has tested me is my belief that not only can all children learn, but all children have a strong desire to achieve."
Lewis is one of the teachers who helped to open the new Centennial Campus Middle School in 2000-2001, a school with team-teaching, block scheduling, and special attentiveness to middle school students. She has taught for 12 years, most of them in Wake County.
"My profession calls me to love children, encourage children, and to stimulate their growth as individuals by helping them make natural connections to the world around them," says Lewis. "When I feel that my classroom is a place where children want to be, it creates an energy inside myself. When students are exposed to this positive energy, they are inspired, too."
Lewis believes that to help students reach their true potential she must connect with them and show them that she cares. She says children must have a clear understanding of themselves as students and must see connections in what they are learning.
Lewis has served as a board member for Planned Parenthood, leader of a parent group at a child-care facility, and director of a nonprofit group with a holiday toy drive for underprivileged children. She has also been a mentor to N.C. State University education undergraduates, and served on the university's Teaching Advisory Council Board.
Her principal Ken Branch writes, "The students at Centennial Campus Middle who have Cecilie as a teacher are truly blessed. Everyday they leave her classroom with something new packed in their book bags. The next day they bring back their own thoughts, interpretations, and questions. As their guide, Cecilie equips them with the tools they need to continue the exploration and climb. She makes them want to do it again and again."
Lewis Named Teacher Of The Year
Wake County Teacher of the Year Helps Students Live Their Lessons to Learn Them