{"id":10386,"date":"2022-05-03T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10386"},"modified":"2022-05-13T14:28:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T18:28:22","slug":"celebrating-today-2023-citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-mary-molly-harrison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/celebrating-today-2023-citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-mary-molly-harrison\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating today: 2023 Citywide Teacher of the Year finalist, Mary \u201cMolly\u201d Harrison"},"content":{"rendered":"

-by Svetla Tomanova<\/em><\/p>\n

In April, the Teacher of the Year committee named the finalists of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 2023 Citywide Teacher of the Year. The spotlight today is on the second finalist. More to follow in this series of profiles about each candidate. The citywide winner will be announced later this week.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mary \u201cMolly\u201d Harrison is an art teacher at Rosemont Elementary School,\u00a0chosen by her colleagues to be 2023 Rosemont\u2019s Teacher of the Year.<\/p>\n

The Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 (VBCPS) alumna has a family legacy in both art and education. Inspired by her father, a longtime VBCPS employee now retired, and grandmother, a successful artist, Harrison\u2019s equal love for art and education commenced at a very young age, and she continued to \u201cnurture her talents\u201d through high school and later at James Madison University.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer passion for teaching, service and art was an organic part of her upbringing,\u201d said Rosemont Elementary principal, Carl A. Hall, and marveled that \u201cher teaching has transformed into a work of art as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Harrison is still at the onset of her career, she \u201chas grown into a respected leader\u201d according to her colleague Sara Biehl.<\/p>\n

Principal Hall pointed out that Harrison \u201chas taken on many leadership roles at Rosemont\u201d such as Summer Jam\/sunshine committee chair, community liaison and grade-level chair. Beyond the classroom, Harrison has served on citywide art show committees, Girls on the Run, and Title I Summer Learning Camp.<\/p>\n

In her Teacher of the Year application, Harrison shared that her \u201cgreatest contribution to Rosemont has been bringing art not only into the art room but into the hallways, community and lives of (my) students.\u201d In the art room, Harrison gives her pupils the opportunities to experience various mediums and explore art from around the world and throughout history.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe makes learning fun and exciting by creating lessons that are relatable and engaging,\u201d her colleague, Katrina Roth, wrote in her recommendation letter.<\/p>\n

While every student\u2019s artwork is sported in the hallways at Rosemont Elementary School, Harrison selects 30 exemplary works and enters them into different citywide art shows every year. From the Winter Art Exhibit at Pembroke Mall to the Youth Art Month display at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, students\u2019 artwork is celebrated around the community.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, under Harrison\u2019s guidance, Rosemont\u2019s students crafted greeting cards with encouraging messages in different languages for Operation Smile patients around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I am instilling a passion for art through all these experiences,\u201d wrote Harrison in her Teacher of the Year submission.<\/p>\n

She also fostered the Kindness Rocks Project, where every student at Rosemont painted rocks with inspirational messages and sayings to spread joy and lift others around the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarrison has touched the lives of many, many students,\u201d added Katrina Roth.\"""\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She mentors and empowers young girls through the Girls on the Run program and spreads her love of art in collaboration with science, math and even musical activities, enhancing student learning and family engagement.<\/p>\n

Today, the art room continues to be a bright, colorful and welcoming space where students are inspired to explore and create.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my passion and my calling to give students artful experiences that I know will have an impact on their lives and future,\u201d said Harrison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-by Svetla Tomanova In April, the Teacher of the Year committee named the finalists of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 2023 Citywide Teacher of the Year. The spotlight today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10386"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10420,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10386\/revisions\/10420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}