In a fitting and unique way, Rock Hill Schools ‘role model’ named teacher of the year

With a nervous laugh, in front of thousands of colleagues on Tuesday afternoon, Amy Medina waved in front of a camera.

Hundreds of teachers watched in anticipation behind her, in the bleachers of the Northwestern High School gymnasium. And even more — Rock Hill Schools teachers, support staff, administrators, board members — watched via Zoom from their respective schools as the district’s back-to-school pep rally and 2020-21 employee of the year award ceremony approached its finale.

Medina and two other candidates were finalists for Rock Hill Schools’ Teacher of the Year — out of 1,300 educators in the district — and they were asked to stand so everyone in the district could see them.

So Medina stood.

And everyone watched as she was named Rock Hill Schools 2020-21 Teacher of the Year.

They watched as she covered her eyes in joyful disbelief. They watched Superintendent Bill Cook emerge unannounced and hand her light blue balloons and colorful flowers. The whole district heard her colleagues chanting “Amy! Amy!” and “Speech! Speech! Speech!”

After a school year defined by persevering through COVID-19 and virtual learning hurdles and separation and confusion and, yes, at times, helplessness — the whole district was together on Tuesday.

“Overwhelmed, excited, honored,” Medina told The Herald with a smile outside Northwestern.

She was standing outside with keys to a new car in her hand. Each Rock Hill school district teacher of the year wins a new car. This year, the prize was a White Honda Insight Hybrid from Honda Cars of Rock Hill with “Rock Hill Schools Teacher of the Year” emblazoned on the driver-side door.

So, Amy Medina, what are you going to do now?

“Probably going to take my kids for a joy ride,” Medina said with a laugh. “Probably going to have cupcakes tonight or whatever I want for takeout, too.”

Medina is entering her 12th year in Rock Hill Schools. But she wasn’t always set on being a social studies teacher. Medina grew up in New Hampshire and moved to Boston to attend Suffolk University as an undergrad. Over the course of being in college, however, she “realized that she was very blessed” with a good education and wanted to be able to “give that gift to others.”

In the late 2000s, Medina and her husband, Gill, a Clover native, moved to York County. Medina earned a graduate degree from Winthrop University in Rock Hill.

In 2009, Medina completed her student teaching at Northwestern High, and she’s been at the Rock Hill school ever since.

“She is a very passionate educator,” Cook said.

The superintendent presided over the event Tuesday and was discreetly driven from South Pointe High — where the pep rally was “hosted” — to Northwestern to add to the suspense over who would be named teacher of the year. (It had the feeling of a real operation, too. Cook was driven in a large, black, secret-service-like Chevy Suburban, with another colleague making sure the event ran smoothly on an iPad.)

“She’ll be a great role model for our district,” Cook said of Medina. “She’s setting that bar of excellence.”

Before leaving for home, Medina was greeted by colleagues walking up to the driver’s window of her new car to extend her hugs and congratulations.

“I love working with my students, helping them to see something in themselves that they didn’t know was there, sparking their interest and curiosity,” Medina said.

She added, “I want everyone to see that they are in history.”

On Tuesday, she made some history herself.

Rock Hill Schools award recipients

Medina was one of several teachers honored for exemplary work in a challenging 2020-21 school year.

Among them:

▪ Mary Roueche of South Pointe High School and Nicole Jordan of Alternative Programs were finalists for Teacher of the Year and awarded to the district’s “Honor Roll.”

▪ Gwendolyn Lindsey, Sullivan Middle, Assistant Principal of the Year

▪ Juan Roldan, Sullivan Middle, Principal of the Year

Rock Hill Schools Teachers of the Year

The district also recognized the 2020-21 teachers of the year at each school Thursday.

• Central Child Development Center - Shadana Moses
• Cherry Park - Alberto Leon
• Ebenezer Avenue - Tammy Pass
• Ebinport - Heather Robinson
• Flexible Learning Center – Nicole Jordan
• Independence - Emily Michau
• India Hook - Gina Thomas
• Lesslie - Melissa Adair
• Mount Gallant - Deneen Gresham
• Mount Holly - Marcy Adams
• Northside - Andrea Walker
• Oakdale - Ayanna Brice
• Old Pointe - Amy White
• Richmond Drive - Elizabeth Payton
• Sunset Park - Angie Schlauch
• York Road - Elizabeth Ruland
• Castle Heights - Tanisha Gordon
• Dutchman Creek - Katherine Dwyer
• Rawlinson Road - Loren McNeil
• Saluda Trail - Kerry Saunders
• Sullivan - Holly Stuart
• Applied Technology Center - Cameron Ramsey
• Phoenix, Raven and Renaissance - Gina Jordan
• Northwestern - Amy Medina
• Rock Hill - Rebecca Padgett
• South Pointe - Mary Roueche
• Virtual Academy - Courtney Waring
• Bellview - Katie McCoy
• Finley Road - Alaina Reichart
• Rosewood - Scotti Ard

This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 8:08 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.