Donna Stout was selected to represent Tucker County as the 2018-2019 County Teacher of the Year. A celebration to honor all the county winners throughout the state was held in Charleston, West Virginia at the Embassy Suites on September 12. Stout received her award from State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steven Paine.
She is the 2018 Tucker County Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year recipient as well. “It’s been wonderful, and one of the nicest things,” Stout said. “My Superintendent Alicia Lambert walked me across the stage, which was so nice. “As I came off the stage, our previous superintendent, Dr. Campbell, who selected me, waited there to congratulate me. I thought that was so nice.”
Director of Special Education Kim Lipscomb and Stout’s husband, Allen Stout, accompanied her during the award ceremony as well.
Stout is teaching her 38th year as an elementary teacher in Tucker County. She is a second grade teacher at Tucker Valley Elementary Middle school where she is a member of the Leadership Team and Curriculum Committee.
Stout said she starts each day feeling blessed that she gets to go to work and do a job that she truly loves. “I don’t feel like I have to go to work every day. I love my job,” Stout said. She said she strives to teach her students to have self respect and respect for others.
Stout is a 1977 graduate of Parsons High School. She attended Fairmont State College where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She obtained a Masters degrees, plus forty five from West Virginia University.
Stout said the teachers that taught her inspired her to become a teacher. “I attended the schools of Tucker County, and I always had really good teachers,” she said. “They were caring teachers that went above and beyond. That made school interesting.”
Reflecting over her years as a teacher, Stout admired the work of fellow teacher Joyce Carrico, who was also a Teacher of the Year recipient. Stout taught alongside Carrico at Davis Thomas. “Later in my career, she came down and was my principal at Tucker Valley. She really set a good example for me,” Stout said.
Science is her favorite subject to teach. “ A typical date night is my husband and me at the school prepping science materials,” she said.
