Starkville High School Educators Rising State Competition winners: (left to right) Chloe Jones, Keylee Lang, Evvy Fuller, April Dill (instructor), Kylee Tomlinson, Zoie Willams (Not pictured: Carissa Palmer)
Six Yellow Jacket students represented the Starkville High School at the Mississippi Educators Rising State Conference at William Carey University in February and each earned top-three honors in competition. The SHS chapter of Educators Rising, which is part of the school's Educator Preparation curriculum pathway saw three First Place finishes, two Second Place awards and one Third Place in various competition categories related to the teaching profession, including classroom management, workforce preparation and children's literature. All six students qualified to compete at the Educators Rising National Competition, which will be held in Orlando in June.
SHS Educators Rising State Awards:
Carissa Palmer –– 1st Place, Job Interview
Keylee Lang –– 1st Place, Teacher Created Materials
Evvy Fuller –– 1st Place, Teacher Created Materials
Chloe Jones –– 2nd Place, Children's K-3 Literature (Spanish)
Kylee Tomlinson –– 2nd Place, Lesson Planning - CTE
Zoie Williams –– 3rd Place, Children's K-3 Literature
In addition to the state awards, SHS Junior Kylee Tomlinson also represented SHS as the MS Educators Rising State Treasurer and was voted by her peers to serve as the 2025-2026 MS Educators Rising Reporter. As part of her role as Treasurer for the current school year, Thompson presided over the closing session of the State Conference.
When not competing in events, students also had the opportunity to attend workshops related to the field of Education. They also visited the STEM and Engineering labs at William Carey University, led by faculty of the College of Education.
Educators Rising is a grass-roots national organization with local school chapters whose mission is to help schools and communities build an emerging workforce of highly skilled educators by guiding students on a path through high school and higher education to the classroom with experience and essential skills. The career and technical student group seeks to cultivate a new generation of educators.
The SHS Educators Rising chapter is part of the Academic Houses at Starkville High School Educator Preparation pathway, led by 2023 Mississippi Teacher of the Year Finalist, April Dill. The curriculum is designed for students interested in pursuing a career in education after high school, and includes coursework and project-based learning in classroom management, lesson planning, and real-world experiences in Starkville Oktibbeha School District classrooms alongside veteran teachers.
As lead teacher in the pathway, Dill takes the mentorship and preparation of students seriously.
"So much of becoming an effective teacher evolves over time by observing other teachers and different teaching styles of people in the field," Dill shared. "It is through my own observations of veteran teachers that I have developed part of my teaching style. Therefore, mentoring young educators providing support and aids in strengthening and improving the teaching profession."
This commitment to helping young teachers grow is the motivation for the job shadowing program Dill created for the Educator Preparation pathway.
Each semester, Educator Preparation students spend time in Jacket classrooms in their chosen age groups and subject areas for job shadowing with current teachers. The experience allows them the opportunity to observe how real classroom teachers give instruction, learn the nuances of working with different age groups, and even gain experience working directly with students and putting their own ideas to work. Many students in the pathway go on to major in Education at the collegiate level, and a few have even come back to work in the district.
"Teaching is a responsibility that extends far beyond the lesson or content," Dill said. "Every day in my classroom, I make it my mission to inspire, challenge, and help my students reach their fullest potential."
