Elem teacher Ashley Barefoot named Mississippi’s State Teacher of the Year

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Elementary teacher Ashley Barefoot of Mississippi has been named her state’s 2025-2026 teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Mississippi Association for Gifted Children

Every year, an outstanding educator from each state is named that state’s Teacher of the Year. This year, Ashley Barefoot, an elementary public school teacher, is serving as Mississippi’s honoree.

Ashley teaches at Longleaf Elementary School in the Lamar County School District in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In her classroom, she designs curriculum that facilitates discovery opportunities and teaches her students skills need to become lifelong learners. She develops lessons on how to write computer code, how to read and write in Braille, and how to solve Rubik’s cubes. In addition, she conducts school-wide service projects that honor veterans and military families.

“I want my students learning something new every week—whether it’s a concept, a strategy, or a way of thinking about the world,” declares Ashley. “We mix logic puzzles and challenges with open-ended projects that promote a growth mindset, creativity, and perseverance,” she continues.

In addition to her work with elementary students, Ashley has led professional development in Gifted Education at statewide workshops. She has also been involved in developing materials for Teaching with Primary Sources, and she has served as an online course facilitator for the Right Question Institute.

In 2000, Ashely earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Southern Mississippi. While there, she studied in England for one year and backpacked around Europe for two summers. After earning her degree, she served in an after-school program as a member of AmeriCorps VISTA, and that’s where she discovered her passion for the teaching profession. Later Ashley her Master’s degree in Elementary Education from William Carey University, and she is also National Board Certified. Her career as a classroom educator spans 23 years, and she has taught Gifted Education for the last 19 of them.

As a lifelong learner, Ashely was named a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks Scholar. As part of this program, she visited Walden Pond while reading Thoreau; dug into archaeology and American Indian culture in Mesa Verde National Park; explored the concept of wilderness in the Adirondack Mountains; and studied the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi. Furthermore, she analyzed environmental history in Boulder, Colorado with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in 2013; served as an Earthwatch Teach Earth Fellow in Costa Rica in 2010; and spent a month backpacking in the Olympic Mountains with the National Outdoor Leadership School in 2009.

To learn more about Ashley Barefoot, click on this link to her personal website.

 

Gussie Nell Davis of Texas: Trailblazing PE teacher and drill team coach

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Physical education teacher and drill team coach Gussie Davis from Texas has been credited with creating a “living art form.” Photo credit: Kilgore College Rangerettes

Every once in awhile I come across the story of a pioneering teacher that I feel I simply must share. One of them is Gussie Nell Davis, a physical education teacher and drill team coach from Texas who is credited for creating a “living art form.”

Gussie was born in Farmersville, Texas, on Nov. 4 1906. As a child she was trained to be a concert pianist. However, after she began her education at the College of Industrial Arts, now known as Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, she changed her major to physical education. Later she earned a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California.

Gussie inaugurated her career as an educator at Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas, in 1928. There she worked as a physical education teacher and pep squad direction. During her tenure there, she developed the first “dancing” pep squad in 1929.

Because of her success at Greenville, Gussie was hired to develop a similar program at Kilgore College in 1939. She developed a dancing drill team known as the Kilgore College Rangerettes, and established a performance genre that has served as a model for drill teams around the nation.

During Gussie’s 40 years as Director of the Rangerettes, her team traveled all over the country and internationally, representing Texas and the United States in South America, the Far East, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. The Rangerettes have been featured at numerous football bowl games across the nation, on national television, in movies, and on hundreds of magazine covers.

For this trailblazing work, Gussie earned many honors. She was named Honorary Citizen of Fort Worth in 1965. She received the International Citizen Citizenship Award in 1969, the Cotton Bowl Association 25th Anniversary Participation Award in 1974, a State of Texas House of Representatives Certificate of Citation, and a Distinguished Alumnae of Texas Woman’s University in 1978. She was also inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1996 she was named posthumously to the TDDTEA Texas Drill Team Hall of Fame, and in 1999, she was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Kilgore College named the Rangerette Residence on their campus in her honor.

Gussie Nell Davis retired in 1979. She passed away Dec. 20, 1993, from respiratory complications. She was interred in Farmersville Cemetery in Texas.

To learn more about this trailblazing educator and coach, click on this link to the Kilgore College Rangerettes.

 

Trailblazing teacher Mildred Crump was also a politician and community activist

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Trailblazing educator Mildred Crumples was also a politician and community activist. Photo credit: Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance

Many excellent school teachers not only dedicate their efforts towards their students, but also work tirelessly to improve the lives of others in their community. This is the case with Mildred Crump, a trailblazing teacher who also devoted her considerable energy to her community as a community activist.

Mildred was born in Detroit, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 1938, the daughter of a union organizer. As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University. There she was named the recipient of the David D. McKenzie Honor Society Award as the “Most Outstanding Female Student for Leadership and Scholarship.” Later Mildred earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from Rutgers University located in Newark, New Jersey.

Mildred inaugurated her career as an educator in Detroit. She became the first African American to teach Braille there. In 1965, Mildred relocated to Newark, New Jersey, where she became the first African American teacher of Braille in the state. For many years, Mildred worked as a teacher and consultant with the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Her career as an educator spanned 42 years.

Mildred also contributed to her community through public office. She was elected Newark’s first African-American Councilwoman in 1994, the first African American to serve on the Council in the city’s 336-year history. She served in this role until 2021.

A longtime community activist, Mildred was a tireless advocate for women, children, senior citizens, the disabled, working families and others in need. She served as the president and a member of the Board of Trustees for Integrity House, Inc.; Vice Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Bridge to Recovery; and a charter member of the African American Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. As an advocate for women’s empowerment, she presented workshops on women’s issues throughout the United States, and in many international countries, including China, Ghana, and Nigeria. She was also a founding member of the New Jersey Coalition of 100 Black Women, and a Golden Heritage Life Member of the Newark Branch of the NAACP.

For her work as an educator, politician, and community activist, Mildred garnered many awards. She earned the Susan Burgess Memorial Award for Exemplary Leadership from the National Democratic Municipal Officials. She also received the Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. In 2020, she was inducted into the New Jersey State League of Municipalities Hall of Fame.

Mildred Crump passed away on Dec. 1, 2024, at the age of 86. She is interred at Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey. To learn more about this Chalkboard Champion, click on this link to Rutgers.

Lessons about China’s Terracotta Army could appeal to teachers

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Author and retired teacher Terry Lee Marzell and her husband, Hal Marzell, travelled to Xian, China, in 2026 to visit the archeological site of the Terracotta Army, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

Many educators agree that travel, in addition to being fun and intellectually stimulating, is one of the most meaningful learning opportunities available. When my husband, Hal, and I were fortunate enough to visit China last month, and there we learned what a magnificent country it is. During our tour, we were scheduled to visit Xian, and the archeological site of the world-famous Terracotta Warriors. Our local guide, Miki, explained that three pits had been discovered, and all were currently under excavation. This work has been ongoing since 1974, when the terracotta warriors were accidentally discovered by local farmers in the process of digging a new well. The archeological dig was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

The archeological dig includes a collection of nearly 8,000 life-sized human soldiers buried in the tomb of the conqueror Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. The statues—each one individualized—were created in 210–209 BCE to protect the emperor in his afterlife. In addition to the human figures, terracotta horses and chariots were also created, and the entire collection reflects the military power of the Qin Dynasty.

Once we entered the structure surrounding Pit #3, we saw that a viewing platform had been built above and around the excavation. A viewing platform had been constructed so visitors could get a better view of the ancient warriors, standing majestically at attention. In addition, we saw several clay chariots and the horses used to draw them, all of them life-sized and created with minute detail. The tableau assembled below us truly resembled an actual army encampment.

These figures were largely intact, even though many of the sculptures had been badly damaged by tomb-raiders following the death of Qin Shi Huang. In a rage they raided the former emperor’s tomb to scavenge for weapons—bronze swords, axes, spearheads—wielded by the terracotta army, smashing the clay soldiers as they went. Like a gigantic and intricate jigsaw puzzle, the fragments have been carefully pieced back together. Today, a team of archeologists continues to painstakingly excavate, label, re-assemble, and photograph each unearthed figure, and then return them to their original positions.

Next, we proceeded on to Pit #2. Here the dig had not progressed as far as at Pit #3; the progress looked mostly like a series of large mounds. But we did see an area where the archeologists currently conduct their work.

Finally, we made our way over to Pit #1, the most amazing of the three digs. Legions of terracotta warriors were lined up, standing side-by-side as if at attention during a military inspection. Miki led us along the length of the oval platform, where we saw more of the archeologists’ ongoing work. We saw several figures in varying states of reconstruction. Some of them were missing sections, indicative of an, as yet, incomplete jigsaw. But we could also see that each clay soldier wore a unique face, and some of them even displayed distinctly African facial features. How, I wondered, did African soldiers become members of this grand army, so far from their home continent? We spent a half hour or so examining the statues and the site that served for centuries as their home, and then our tour was concluded.

Lessons about the history of the Terracotta Army would likely be of interest to any teacher developing a curriculum for a World History class. In addition, Art teachers might want to ask their students to study the art of creating figurines in clay. Almost certainly, though, it would not be easy for an American classroom teacher to escort a group of students to Xian. But the government of China maintains an excellent website with information and photographs of the dig. You can access that website at Terracotta Warriors Museum.