During a surprise visit from State of Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods, Bulloch County Teacher of the Year Ashleigh Wright found out she is one of 10 finalists for Georgia Teacher of the Year.
Superintendent Woods came to Southeast Bulloch High School Tuesday to give Wright the news. The 2025 Teacher of the Year will be revealed at a banquet in Atlanta May 2024.
Wright is an American Government and an Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics teacher at Southeast Bulloch. She has been a teacher for 18 years, 15 of those with Bulloch County Schools.
Wright was named Bulloch County’s Teacher of the Year in October at a banquet hosted by the school district and the Statesboro Herald. While it was the first county-wide win for Wright, it was not her first time as a teacher of the year honoree – she was chosen as Southeast Bulloch High Teacher of the Year in 2014-2015.
One of the essay questions in the 2023-2024 Bulloch County Teacher of the Year application asked nominees what led them to become teachers and what they like most about being a teacher. Wright wrote with special fondness for the teacher she knew best as a child, her mother, who had a 46-year teaching career.
“Throughout my educational journey, I’ve encountered numerous teachers who inspired me, most notably my mother,” she wrote. “As my fourth-grade teacher, she was one of the toughest I’ve had, holding high expectations for me.”
Wright said she can still recite a list of prepositions and a speech in the persona of Helen Keller, both of which she memorized for her mother’s class.
“More than that, I remember her being recognized everywhere we went for the significant impact she had on her students’ lives,” Wright wrote.
She holds three college degrees, all from Georgia Southern University: A Bachelor of Science of Education in political science education, attained in 2004; Master of Science of Education in social science education, 2006; and Education Specialist in teaching and learning, 2009.
Wright has served in teacher leadership positions and on committees since early in her career.
Since 2018 she has headed Southeast Bulloch’s Social Sciences Department and been a member of the school’s leadership team. She served on the Bulloch County Schools Grading Practices District committee for 2022-2023 and is a professional development training presenter for the district. She has been a Georgia Southern clinical supervisor and clinical associate for College of Education students’ classroom experiences and student teaching since 2006.
Wright currently is an instructional video presenter for the Georgia Department of Education’s “Let’s Learn GA!” series.
She was one of the founders of the local Ferst Readers effort. Operating in Bulloch County since 2012, the Ferst Foundation program provides a book each month, to keep, to children from infancy to 5 years old.
“She was one of the first teachers to sound the illiteracy alarm, and this lady took action,” Bulloch County Schools Superintendent Charles Wilson said.
She and her husband, Alan Wright, have two children, Brooks and Shelby Lou, both students in the Bulloch County Schools.