Sarah Laws ‘12 always knew that she wanted to be teacher. What she didn’t know was that she would end up becoming a teacher—and an award-winning teacher, at that—at the very high school she attended as a student. She even teaches in the same classroom that she met her husband in when they were both high school students.
“My time at Mountain Heritage really shaped who I am as a person, and I think my teachers really helped me make good decisions and go down the right track. That's all I want in life is, to make a difference,” Laws said.
“It starts with your community, and I think children are the way to make a huge difference in the world. The environment is also super important to me, so being able to do both is I've always wanted.”
Laws, an environmental science teacher at Mountain Heritage High School, was voted Yancey County Teacher of the Year 2022—an impressive accolade that requires an extensive application process, numerous essays, classroom observations, and interviewing in front of a panel of community members and educational professionals.
“When I got it, my principal called me to the office and then he made the announcement, with me standing there, that that I had gotten Teacher of the Year,” Laws said. “When I went back to my classroom of kids, they were like, ‘Mrs. Laws, we could hear you crying on the intercom!’ It meant just the world to me.”