Forrest County Agricultural High School was one of seventeen districts in the state to receive the MS-ACTE (Mississippi Association of Career Technical Educators) Achieve 100 Award for having one hundred percent participation of CTE personnel in MS-ACTE.
Erik Shows
Mr. Erik Shows received the award for FCAHS. He is the new Career Technical Education Director at FCAHS having seven years of experience in education. Mr. Shows has served as a teacher, coach and student services coordinator before accepting the position of CTE Director.
Judy Grice
Mrs. Judy Grice, Health Science Instructor at FCAHS, received the honor of being selected as Health Science Teacher of the Year for the state of Mississippi. Mrs. Grice has fifteen years’ experience as a practicing nurse and 12 years’ experience as a nurse educator. In addition to teaching, she sponsors HOSA, which is the student organization Future Health Professionals. All of her students are members of HOSA and they compete at the district, state and national level against students form other Health Science programs. Her students consistently place at all levels of competition, with a group advancing to national competition this summer.
Kayla Walters
Ms. Kayla Walters, Horticulture instructor and FFA advisor at FCAHS, received two awards this summer at the MS FFA Convention: South District Rookie Ag Teacher of the Year and overall State of Mississippi Rookie Ag Teacher of the Year. These awards are presented by the MS FFA Alumni Association and MS Association of Vocational Ag Teachers. Ms. Walters is beginning her second year of teaching at FCAHS and is one of three advisors for the Brooklyn FFA chapter.
Mary Helen Lett
Mrs. Mary Helen Lett, Introduction to Ag Science instructor and FFA advisor at FCAHS, won the NAAE (National Association of Agricultural Educators) Outstanding Early Career Teacher award for the state of Mississippi. She advanced to the regional level competition and won. She will be recognized at the national level in December with five other national winners. Mrs. Lett was chosen for this award based on career achievements such as student success, FFA achievement, community partnerships and personal commitment to growth in her profession.
"We are extremely proud of them and their accomplishments and (we) want the local community, professional community and state to know what great things our teachers are doing to strengthen career technical education," said Melissa Graham, CTE Counselor at Forrest County Agricultural High School.