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East Albemarle Elementary School third grade teacher Wendy Joffson was recently named the Stanly County Schools Beginning Teacher of the Year.

This is her second year at East Albemarle. She’s been a teacher for more than 15 years and has been with the school system for about five years, according to an East Albemarle Facebook post introducing her last year.

She earned her associate’s degree from Stanly Community College and her bachelor’s degree in Educational Studies from Western Governors University.

“My personal teaching philosophy is to never give up on my students no matter what. I want my students to know they can achieve anything,” she said. “I want all of my students to feel like they belong no matter what their race, background or culture is. I truly believe all students are capable of being successful in their own way.”

She added: “It’s my job as a teacher to give them that safe, nurturing and engaging environment where they will be excited to learn. I want to be the teacher that my students remember in twenty years as the teacher that cared and would do anything for her students, or as I call them, my kids.”

East Albemarle Principal Erik Johnson had high praise for Joffson, saying she “is one of the kindest people I have been privileged to work with” and that she “possesses tremendous interpersonal skills coupled with an amazingly positive attitude and contagious enthusiasm for serving students.”

Johnson said that as a beginning teacher, Joffson “demonstrated an uncanny ability to effectively function within all the dynamics of school culture, grade level collaboration and classroom leadership.”

Her students love her, Johnson said, “because she is kind, loving, fun, and genuinely cares about them” and she takes the time to personally know and understand each student in her class.

Outside of school, Joffson enjoys attending Charlotte Hornets’ games, listening to music and spending time with her family, according to the East Albemarle Facebook post. She’s married and has one child.