{"id":10390,"date":"2022-05-04T09:55:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T13:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10390"},"modified":"2022-05-13T14:26:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T18:26:08","slug":"celebrating-today-2023-citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-ashley-houchins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/celebrating-today-2023-citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-ashley-houchins\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating today: 2023 Citywide Teacher of the Year finalist, Ashley Houchins"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In early April, the Teacher of the Year committee shared the names of the finalists of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 2023 Citywide Teacher of the Year. Today, we\u2019re celebrating the third candidate. More to follow in this series of profiles about each distinguished finalist. The citywide winner will be announced at the end of the week.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Ashley Houchins is a proud Kempsville High School (KHS) graduate and devoted to her profession. Houchins contributes her passion for marketing and entrepreneurship to her Kempsville teachers who \u201cchallenged her to think critically\u201d and \u201cinspired her to make a difference in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before a teaching career in KHS was on Houchins\u2019 radar, she met one of her biggest role models, KHS\u2019 Entrepreneurship & Business Academy (EBA) Coordinator Meghan Timlin, when she took the leadership skills and development class. In praise of her mentor, Houchins said \u201cMs. Timlin inspired her to provide the same educational experience to her students.\u201d<\/p>\n

She returned to her high school in 2016 and currently serves as the EBA\u2019s marketing teacher \u2013 forging connections, improving instructional practice, implementing a new curriculum, and imparting her knowledge to academy freshmen and sophomores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI teach because I believe that all students can learn and use their voice to enact a positive change in their community,\u201d wrote Houchins in her Teacher of the Year application.
\n\"""\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Between planning a leadership workshop, co-sponsoring DECA, running the INCubatoredu and ACCELeratoredu, as well as scheduling EBA master classes, Houchins continues to expand her professional skill set.<\/p>\n

By partnering with local community experts, Houchins ensures her students are exposed to \u201creal-world\u201d examples and are challenged the same way she was by her mentors. In the last five years, she has invited to her classroom over 50 experts in various areas, including 3D printing, intellectual property, and marketing strategies, providing her students with an enhanced experience and connect them to the community in \u201crelevant ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Houchins is an outstanding advocate for her students,\u201d noted Melissa George, principal of Kempsville High School. \u201cShe provides many opportunities for them through her participation in field trips to businesses and higher education institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houchins was instrumental in bringing a revolutionary course to KHS called INCubatoredu, which is the cornerstone of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation strand offered within the academy. Through the INCubatoredu class, students create their ideas for products and businesses. At the end of the course, they can participate in Pitch Night in hopes of acquiring seed money. The educational experience of INCubatoredu doesn\u2019t stop at Pitch Night. The student teams that are fortunate to be funded have opportunities to advance to the next level: ACCELeratoredu.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Houchins is always open to students who want to discuss new business ideas,\u201d Evan Nied, a former student, wrote in a recommendation letter. \u201cShe has been a mentor and instrumental in helping me and fellow students cultivate our skills in entrepreneurship, collaboration, and teamwork as well as advise us on how to start, operate and successfully run businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Routsis extolled the virtues of her colleague by highlighting in her recommendation letter Houchins\u2019 \u201clove of learning\u201d and \u201cconstant enthusiasm and encouragement of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houchins said her philosophy is simple: Teaching is about encouraging personalized learning that is built upon the passion of students. Her door is always open to students who want to bring their business ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-by Svetla Tomanova In early April, the Teacher of the Year committee shared the names of the finalists of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 2023 Citywide Teacher of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10415,"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-10390","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\/10390","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=10390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10405,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10390\/revisions\/10405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}