A passion for teaching

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When the 2023 school year begins, Deion Jamison, an English teacher at Legacy Early College in Greenville, will have a challenging new mission—traveling the state as a roving ambassador for education.

Named the 2023 Teacher of the Year during a gala celebration in May, Jamison received a $25,000 stipend and use of a new BMW X5 to use during his one-year sabbatical as an advocate and mentor for classroom teachers.

“Deion exhibits the qualities and characteristics that we want to see in every current and future South Carolina educator,” says Molly Spearman, state superintendent of education. “He is so deserving of this tremendous honor, and I know he will do a fantastic job advocating and representing our over 55,000 teachers this next year.” 

In addition to naming a Teacher of the Year, the annual competition recognizes top teachers in each school district. When you review the profiles of the five finalists for the 2023 award, it becomes clear that while they may use different methods to reach their students, the common denominator is a passion for teaching.

Deion Jamison

Age: 27.

Teaches at: Legacy Early College in Greenville, 9th–10th grade English.

Credentials: Earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Clemson in 2017 and a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University in 2021.

Teaching philosophy: “I want to give my students an education that will take them beyond.”

Even as a child, Deion Jamison knew he wanted to be a teacher.

“I used to have this chalkboard that my fourth grade teacher purchased for me,” he says, “and I would play school with my ‘students.’”

But by the time he went to college, Jamison had cooled to the idea of teaching and planned to pursue a computer science degree instead. That changed when compared ACT scores with his friends in the dormitory. “I noticed that all of my peers who came from affluent districts had very high ACT scores, so I started to piece together that there was something wrong with the quality of education I was receiving in comparison to my peers.”

Jamison began researching disparities in education, and what he found reignited his passion to become a classroom teacher, he says. “I felt it was one of the ways I could fight the inequities that exist in education”.

As a teacher, Jamison strives to impart skills his students can use for the rest of their lives.

“I could teach my students Shakespeare all day, but it really wouldn’t matter if they remember who Romeo and Juliet are when they’re adults,” he says. “What will matter is that they are able to utilize skills such as critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving.”

When Jamison watched the Teacher of the Year Gala in 2021, he made a prediction: “I said to myself, ‘I will be there one day.’ I did not expect that day to be exactly one year later,” he says.

Now that he has won the Teacher of the Year award—the first black male to do so—he feels encouraged to hear that he’s already inspiring others. “That’s the most rewarding part of it all.”

Jami Guker

Age: 41.

Teaches at: Woodruff Middle School, 7th grade math.

Credentials: Earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching from the University of South Carolina Upstate in 2002, a master’s degree in education from Converse University in 2003 and a master’s degree in education administration from Converse University in 2009.

Teaching philosophy: “Teaching is a calling, not just a job.’’

Growing up in Reidville, Jami Guker developed an interest in teaching by observing her mother, who was a teacher’s assistant for 28 years.

“I remember her coming home and telling me about all of her students every day,” she says. “That’s the biggest reason I started teaching. I loved those relationships I saw my mom was able to form with her students.”

As a seventh grade math teacher at Woodruff Middle School, Guker likes to keep students engaged by incorporating games and upbeat activities into her lessons.

“I try to make my math class fun,” she says. “We sing in my class, we dance in my class, to try to help them remember some of the mathematical concepts.”

Over summer breaks, Guker organizes weekly activities for her students in order to “continue that connection with them all year round,” and says it’s her faith in God that inspires her to go the extra mile. “Teaching is a calling, not just a job.”

Thomas Slater

Age: 59.

Teaches at: Chestnut Oaks Middle School in Sumter, 6th–8th grade chorus and general music.

Credentials: Earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and music from S.C. State University in 1986 and a master’s degree in education administration from Grand Canyon University in 2016.

Teaching philosophy: “All students can learn.”

Growing up in rural South Carolina in the late ’60s and ’70s, Slater saw teaching as “the gateway to the future.” Fortunately for him, teaching ran in the family. Both of his parents were teachers, as were his aunts and two of his siblings. “So it seemed logical that I would choose this road in life,” he says.

In high school, Slater played trumpet and was inspired by his band director to seriously pursue music. “Her enthusiasm was contagious, and she made music so much fun for me,” he says. She challenged him to dig deeper into his musical abilities and even compose his own music.

As a teacher, Slater uses a similar strategy—offering his students lesson plans and classroom activities that challenge them in order to boost confidence and self-esteem, he says.  “I think it’s my duty as a teacher to discover the best method in which students will learn.”

The principal of Chestnut Oaks Middle School, Jenaii Edwards, describes Slater as someone with “a passion for music and a passion for his students.” She recalls being deeply moved when she attended one of his student concerts. “Seeing the joy in his face and the joy he brought to his students and how well they sung—it was magnificent.”

Even after nearly four decades of teaching, Slater still feels energized by watching his students develop their musical talent.

“I get the same euphoric feeling today as I did 35 years ago when I witness them perform,” he says. “It’s something I never get tired of.”

Laura Merk

Age: 29.

Teaches at: Springfield Middle School in Fort Mill, 6th grade math.

Credentials: Earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Anderson University in 2015 and a master’s degree in learning and technology from Western Governors University in 2020.

Teaching philosophy: “Teaching is my way of serving other people.”

Growing up in Fort Mill, Laura Merk always had a love for learning, and over the years, it evolved into a love for teaching.

“Teaching is my way of serving other people,” she says. “I think every student, every child, deserves the opportunity to have a high-quality education.”

Merk is adamant that teaching be student-oriented. She achieves this by employing a small-group, workshop model in her classroom. Where most teachers deliver lessons to the entire class simultaneously, Merk works with five or six students at a time so she can give everyone the attention they need.

This allows her to build relationships and “meet students where they are in their math level,” she says. “Math isn’t as scary when you’re in a small group.”

Keith Griffin, principal of Springfield Middle School, describes Merk as “a student magnet” because of the genuine interest she shows in each individual child. “She’s just a great person and a great teacher.”

Merk credits her colleagues for molding her into the teacher she is today.

“I truly believe iron sharpens iron,” she says. “When you work with great teachers, you become a great teacher.”

Teacher of the Year finalist Zachary arms is a “go-getter,” says Liberty High School Principal Josh Oxendine. “He’s very attuned to the needs of a school or a student or the community.”

Photo by John Gillespie

Zachary Arms

Age: 26.

Teaches at: Liberty High School, social studies.

Credentials: Earned a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education from Clemson University in 2017.

Teaching philosophy: “What can I do to make my students better than myself?”

Zachary Arms became a teacher because of his twin passions for social sciences and helping others succeed. “I figured teaching would be the best opportunity for me to wrap these two passions into one.”

As a teacher, he wants to give his high school students the leg up he never got.

“My teaching philosophy is ‘What can I do to make my students better than myself?’” he says. One way he does this is by making students aware of scholarships and other programs that can help them go to college without taking on debt.

The principal of Liberty High School, Josh Oxendine, has been impressed by Arms since he first student-taught at the school before becoming a full-time teacher.

“He’s a go-getter,” Oxendine says. “He’s very attuned to the needs of a school or a student or the community and is always looking for a way to address those needs.”

Arms stays motivated by the perennial challenge of connecting student interests to their learning outcomes. One way he’s successfully met this challenge is by developing a “Psychology of Superheroes” curriculum that teaches students about complex psychological concepts using familiar comic book narratives.

Arms says he was surprised to be named a finalist for the Teacher of the Year award. “To be considered a top five teacher blows my mind because there are so many good things happening in our schools in South Carolina and so much excellence in our state.”

This fall, he will be starting a master’s degree in educational leadership at Clemson University. In the coming years, he hopes to get involved in state education policy “to better the working conditions and learning conditions in South Carolina.”

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For additional information on the annual Teacher of the Year award, visit ed.sc.gov/educators/recruitment-and-recognition/teacher-of-the-year.