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Amanda King
Amanda King came to teaching via a more unconventional route. She recalls, “I graduated from NKU in December 2007. That is a hard time [of year] to secure a teaching position, but I lucked out because there was a split high school/middle school Family Consumer Science position open in Pendleton County. I am a life-long resident and graduate [of PHS], and at the time I was a substitute teacher in PC, so I applied for the position and was emergency certified (since that wasn’t my specialized area) for the remainder of the year.”
That little out-of-the box experience for King has turned into 13-1/2 years of gifts to every student she encounters. King was soon installed in her specialty fields of language arts and social studies at Sharp Middle School as her talents were recognized early, and in 2018, she fulfilled her desire of becoming the library media specialist for the same two schools where she started her career--SMS and PHS--after receiving her Master’s degree in Library Science.
Her goal is to help “ensure Pendleton County Schools are the best they can be,” and her strong work in helping to achieve that goal has resulted in the Golden Apple Award which recognizes her outstanding work in and dedication to her field. sulted in the Golden Apple Award which recognizes her outstanding work in and dedication to her field.
Her career focus has changed through the years, (now, she says, her focus is “to create a space where kids want to be, to develop a love of reading, to help kids learn about digital literacy and citizenship, and to learn to use technoloogy that will help them to becokme career and college ready.”), and her focus on her students has been the catalyst for those goals. “I want kids to graduate PC with the skills necessary to be successful in life and know they have a great support system in PC Schools.”
What she did not mention is that, while students and parents across the district were working to make technology work for Covid-related online schooling, she was a central figure in problem-solving, a ready contact for anyone whose technology was not working as it should or who had other questions regarding the system as they all worked together to make school happen online; however, she sees aa special value to receiving it this year, likely because of that fact that pulled her from being a resource of literacy to a resource of technological know-how and advice. “I am honored to receive the award especially this year since it has been a rough year. It’s nice to know people value the hard work you put into your job.”