Elementary school teacher Zahra O’Reilly-Bates has been named the 2021 Teacher of the Year for the territory of the US Virgin Islands. Photo credit: The St. Thomas Source

I enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is Zahra O’Reilly-Bates, an elementary school teacher from the US Virgin Islands, who has been named the 2021 Teacher of the Year for the territory.

Zahra teaches fourth, fifth, and sixth grade at Ricardo Richards Elementary School. She teaches mathematics, English and Language Arts, social studies, and science. Her career there has spanned 18 years. In addition to her work in the classroom, Zahra plays an integral role in her school’s learning community. She serves as chair of the history, culture, and traditions committee for the Virgin Islands. In addition, she manages and coaches the school’s Math Counts, baseball, and softball teams.

The honored educator also devoted her talents to working as a teacher-ranger at Christiansted National Historic Site, where she developed a geocache that earned the distinction of “Find Your Park” Geotour and resulted in hundreds of visitors to the site.

As a youngster, Zahra was raised in the de Chabert housing community. She attended Juanita Gardine Elementary School, Elena Christian Junior High, and Central High School. “I received everything I needed to succeed from the public schools,” she said. After her high school graduation, she received a full scholarship to Atlanta Metropolitan State College to play softball.

Zahra earned her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education with a concentration in social sciences in 2002 from the University of the Virgin Islands. In 2005, she earned her Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in instructional design and technology from American InterContinental University.

To learn more about Zahra, see this article about her published on the CCSSO Teacher of the Year website.