A five-minute walk through the colorfully-decorated halls of Stilson Elementary School alongside Ashlee Mitchell can remove any doubt of the authenticity in her principal's assertion.
      "Every student in our school knows who [Mrs. Mitchell] is," said Eileen Bayens, principal of Stilson Elementary. "She comes into contact with all of them at some time during the day, and takes every opportunity to find teachable moments with the students - whether at breakfast, lunch or in the halls."
      Around each corner, as Mitchell winds through Stilson's halls en route to her classroom, can be found a student straying from class, heading for the library or taking a short bathroom break. Not one of the wandering youngsters proves exempt from Mitchell's attention, as she greets them by name, asks their business and wishes the now-smiling students onward.
      It is Mitchell's close connection to students, and passion for improving their lives, that has landed the Stilson Elementary/Southeast Bulloch High School speech-language pathologist a place among 10 finalists for 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year.
      Selected by her peers as Stilson's representative, Mitchell was chosen from a group of 15 educators to be the 2012 Bulloch County Schools Teacher of the Year, qualifying her for state competition.
      "I was extremely honored, just to be recognized by the Stilson community," said Mitchell. "I was shocked, but honored. I kept telling myself previously that they would not select a speech pathologist."
      "I think my being selected as a finalist is great for Bulloch County," she said. "We have great schools, including Stilson Elementary. We do phenomenal things here. Our students are extremely successful, and it is a family."

Mitchell's day
      Tuesday, as is routine for the teacher, Mitchell sat with some of the youngest members of her Stilson family, helping kindergarten students develop vocabulary and rhyming skills.
      Atop a multicolored rubber mat, on the floor of Ms. Carrie Frinch's kindergarten classroom, students huddled around Mitchell - sitting "criss-cross applesauce," they sang - to play games and build on language art abilities recently garnered.
      Tapping arms to decipher the amount of syllables in a word, singing and offering definitions to words both new and old, Mitchell entertained and taught the semi-circle row of students facing her for more than 20 minutes.
      Using flash cards, a system that allowed students to collect rewards for correct answers and the occasional wild face or body gesture, Mitchell captivated and engaged the learning kids.
      The session, in which students use phonetics and rhyming to build their vocabulary, is something Mitchell practices with every young student at Stilson.
      "I go into pre-k and kindergarten classrooms at least once a week to conduct lessons," said Mitchell. "We try to help students understand language and develop vocabulary skills. I also work with people who stutter and those who have physical disabilities."
      "Ultimately, I am working with kids and helping them communicate so that they can be successful in the future" said the teacher. "I work very hard to develop their sense of community, accountability for actions and things like that."
      Mitchell visits Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week, and travels to Southeast Bulloch High School to work with older students, she said.
      Other days are spent working with students who need additional attention.

Speech teacher
        It is Mitchell's role in the lives of so many students that prompted her nomination and selection as Stilson's 2012 Teacher of the Year, said the principal.
      "Sometimes speech teachers are isolated to one little room, working with only the few students assigned to them," Bayens said. "But Mrs. Mitchell is an integral part of our faculty and staff."
      Becoming a finalist in the teacher of the year competition is another phase in the career Mitchell dreamed of having as a teenager.
      "I decided I wanted to be a speech pathologist when I was 15," said Mitchell, who had the opportunity to spend a week watching a speech pathologist when job-shadowing as a teen.
      She decided to spend her career in school systems during winter break of her sophomore year of college.
      "Around December, I was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor," she said. "I could not wait to get back into the classroom. All I cared about was getting back to school. I thought, ‘if I am looking for school, during this terrible of a time, then that is probably a good place for me to spend my life.' School was home, it was normal."
      Since graduating from college, Mitchell has been able to been able work with school-children in a profession from which she derives immense pleasure, she said.
      "What I love is the fact that I can reach lots of different children, in various grade levels, who have different problems," said Mitchell. "I am able to work with children as young as three, all the way up to 21"

Ultimate reward
      The ultimate reward is "the success of the kids and gratification of the parents," she said. "The best part of all of this, besides bringing a focus on Bulloch County and the great things we do within the school, is the response I have received from my students' parents. To hear parents compliment me, and say that I have really made a difference, makes it all worth while."
      "Mrs. Mitchell has done a lot for my kids," said Belinda Dickey, whose two sons work closely with Mitchell. "They have come a very long way. She really helps a lot."
      "She has helped our family and works very hard," said Dickey. "She treats every student as if they are her own."
      The selection of Mitchell as Bulloch's Teacher of the Year was made by members of the Chamber of Commerce's Education Committee - Judges reviewed each school's respective winner, without knowing their identities, based on teachers' certifications, commitment to the teaching field and their activities in the school and community, according to Hayley Greene, spokesperson for the Bulloch County Board of Education.
      The local honor landed Mitchell in a state-level competition with winners from 154 other Georgia school districts. Based on the strength of teachers' essay responses, judges narrowed the pool to just ten.
      "This is a strong group of outstanding educators who would each make a terrific 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year," said State School Superintendent John Barge in a Georgia Department of Education press release. "Congratulations to the finalists, and all those who applied for consideration."
      "We are so proud of Mrs. Mitchell here at Stilson Elementary. She has been with us for nine years now," said Bayens. "All of her qualities, including the fact that she uses experiences from her personal life and the hardships she has faced, really make her an outstanding teacher of the year. Ashlee gives 110 percent of herself to this school."

Teacher judging
      Over the next several weeks, a panel of judges will observe and interview each of the ten 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year finalists, according to the release. The finalists will give a speech at a luncheon on April 1, and the winner will be announced at the Georgia Teacher of the Year banquet on May 6, at the Georgia World Congress Center.
      The 2012 winner will supplant Appling County's Pam Williams at Teacher of the Year, and travel around the state and nation, serving as an ambassador for the teaching profession, according to the Department of Education. The winner will also be entered in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
       "We don't know what we would do without Ms. Mitchell. It is very bittersweet to think about her winning and being gone for a year traveling," said Bayens. "But we are anxious to share her with the rest of the state. We wish her well. We don't know what it was like before Ms. Mitchell was here at Stilson."

Other finalists
      The nine other finalists for the 2012 Teacher of Year award are: Jadun McCarthy, an English teacher in Bibb County; Vicki Tarleton, a math teacher in Columbia County; Nancy Williams, a social skills teacher in Coweta County; Beth Sciarro, who teaches reading in Houston County; Ivy Smith, a mathematics teacher in Lowndes County; Christine Powell, a journalism, art history and literature teacher in Muscogee County; Lisa Boyd, a language arts teacher in Rockdale County; Melissa Webb, a Chatham County second grade teacher; and Nancy Rogers, who teachers literature in Thomas County.

      Jeff Harrison can be reached at (912) 489-9454