2022 TEACHER OF THE YEAR

  CEDAR (Community Economic Development and Revitalization) is pleased to announce that its 2022 Teacher of the Year is Wendy Poe from Paintsville High School.  Her winning Future of Work in Appalachia Study Unit focused on SOAR (Shaping our Appalachian Region) Blueprint Pillars #4 Healthy Communities and #7 Tourism and Downtown Revitalization.  The unit centered on meshing these two SOAR Pillars to enable her students to develop critical thinking skills that would help improve our communities:  healthy living lifestyle improvement and developing tourism that would attract those who are looking for healthy lifestyle opportunities.  The goal of the unit was to develop awareness of the connection of tourism and healthy communities and their potential impact upon Eastern Kentucky residents and tourists.  The unit’s essential question - How can tourism and healthy communities become a cohesive driving force for economic growth in our region? - helped lead Mrs. Poe and her students on this journey of discovery.

While developing the unit, students discussed economic growth in the region and how opportunities for healthy living could easily be linked with tourism.  They were tasked with creating a strategic plan that would help drive the unit.  To gather information in the development of the plan, the students created a Google Form Questionnaire, researched available resources in the community and studied current tourism websites to find connections with healthy living.  After researching strategic plan models, students developed a plan with three components:  development, marketing and sustainability.

After brainstorming as a class to generate ideas for merging tourism and healthy communities, the students divided into groups and chose one of the ideas discussed.  Utilizing  the strategic planning model, each group began working independently and collaboratively to develop their idea into a viable attraction/event to promote the area.  At the end of the unit each group would be tasked with presenting their final plan to the class.  One of the first steps to help students better understand healthy lifestyles was a classroom visit by the District Nurse, who works with the regional health departments and hospitals.  She not only discussed potential health dangers when exercising and how to eat healthy in restaurants, but also how to help promote healthy lifestyle opportunities to those in our region and those who may visit.  This was beneficial to the students and led them to research tourism in other communities both those with similar demographics and larger cities as well.  The students presented their findings in class and discussed if the tourism opportunities they found had a healthy living component and if it could be easily developed here in this region.  One of their overall take-aways was that most places did not specifically promote healthy living although there were elements of it in their events and attractions.

To learn more about what opportunities the region has to offer, the class completed three field trips:  one by bus to areas around the region, one walking tour of the downtown area, and one theater venue visit.  The bus trip was to tour potential attraction locations as well as to visit current tourist spots to determine how they could develop ideas to promote healthy living.  The bus trip included a visit to a regional airport located on a reclaimed mine site. While there they had the good fortune to see a medical helicopter and speak with two medic nurses and the helicopter’s mechanic.  They also got to see the Kentucky State Police helicopter land and speak with the officer.  He had been out with a Fish and Wildlife officer locating areas of wildlife, and the students immediately recognized the tourism potential.  Both of these experiences were so valuable to the students as they not only gained information about tourism but also learned about job opportunities they had never considered.   The next stop on the bus tour was to local Johnson County tourist spot, The Homeplace, where they were able to speak with a tourism official.  She was very informative and also excited that students were researching these connections and looked forward to seeing the outcomes of their work. 

 Additionally, the class visited areas of interest with a walking tour of the downtown area.  According to Mrs. Poe, “Prior to the tour, we had valuable discussions of prospective stops, photos, opportunities to develop ideas.  Our small town has a rich history and untapped potential for tourism.  The class was determined to help connect this with healthy living.”  Some students were grouped to investigate possible tourism/healthy lifestyle activities in town; such as, a 5K walk, fun run, walking scavenger hunt, and antiquing.  Other student groups noted historic architecture, antique shops, churches, murals, parks, restaurants and coffee shops.  Students photographed each area with tourism in mind and discussed with local business owners how their shops contributed or could contribute to healthy communities; e.g., nutritious beverages, sugar-free items,  wholesome food choices.

One final field trip to a theater venue coincided with a country music star’s birthday.  Her homeplace is a local tourism spot and a movie was made of her life.  Mrs. Poe recounted, “Our students visited the historic Sipp Theater and viewed the movie, Coal Miner’s Daughter.  This movie enabled the students to better connect with the tourism site and understand its potential.  One of my students created artwork to display at the theater’s entrance to support the event.  Other students designed artwork to promote other areas around our region.”

In reviewing the unit, Mrs. Poe stated, “The unit’s goal was accomplished, and the students were able to connect how healthy lifestyles can be integrated with local tourism.  The unit was deemed successful by the processes of student engagement, opportunities to develop ideas, and presentations at the end of the unit.“ Each group’s final presentation was evaluated by the class for clarity of vision, marketing strategy and sustainability of the proposed venture.  Mrs. Poe noted that students were able to come up with ideas that extended the unit beyond the planned activities with an actual Fun Run/Walk held by their school at the end of the school year.  “It was rewarding and fun to see the students’ excitement as they proposed ideas, developed strategies, and executed plans for the event.”   

At the end of this unit of study, the students evaluated the unit and offered suggestions to help determine the direction of future study units.  According to Mrs. Poe, “This was a successful unit where student engagement and learning helped stimulate development of critical thinking skills that will drive expansion of tourism and healthy lifestyles as they become adults.”  

Mrs. Poe is no stranger to CEDAR and has been actively involved in program for many years.  She was our Teacher of the Year the last year we had a “Coal” Student Unit and has been our winning teacher these first two years of the Future of Work in Appalachia Study Unit program.  We are proud to have Wendy Poe represent CEDAR as our 2022 Teacher of the Year.