VIRGINIA BEACH — A fifth-grade Shelton Park Elementary School teacher was named the 2018 Virginia Beach City Public Schools teacher of the year.
Amanda Pontifex has been a Virginia Beach elementary school teacher for nine years, beginning her career at Kempsville Meadows Elementary School. She began teaching at Shelton Park in 2014, and serves as the school’s improvement coordinator, a volunteer tutor and on the leadership and math teams, according to a VBCPS news release.
In 2016, Pontifex was named the school’s volunteer of the year for her work with the parent teacher association. She’s also a member of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and coordinates education projects for her students with the organization.
“I’ve always known I was born to help people,” Pontifex wrote in her teacher of the year application.
When Pontifex initially enrolled at Radford University she thought she’d become a nurse. Two years into the program, she transferred to elementary education and graduated from Old Dominion University with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, the release states.
In her teacher of the year recommendation letter, Shelton Park Elementary School Principal Tara Brewer described Pontifex as “enthusiastic” and “engaging.”
“Amanda consistently delivers quality instruction to her students. It is a joy to visit her class and watch her skillfully reach every child,” Brewer wrote. “She is respected as an instructional leader here at Shelton Park and is an outstanding example for our faculty and for teachers everywhere!”
