SUMTER, S.C. — Valerie Pryor has been helping children succeed in the classroom for nearly three decades, with much of that time being spent in Sumter County.
"I love the students. I love the administrators. I love everything about it,” says Pryor. “We're just one big family and we're always helping each other out here in the district."
Pryor is a fifth-grade teacher and somewhat of a Rockstar at Millwood Elementary, inspiring both young and old.
"She's just a model teacher,” says Jessica Wright, Principal. “She's a model for the girls. She's a model for the boys. She's a model for her colleagues. I even want to be just like Ms. Pryor when I grow up."
When we stopped by to surprise Ms. Pryor as the News19 Teacher of the Week, her students were learning about area model and partial quotient.
"That's one of the new strategies that we're teaching them,” says Pryor. When you and I were growing up, it was the old school method, but now they're learning new strategies like area model and partial quotient and they're much easier than the old one."
Ms. Pryor’s work doesn’t end in the classroom. She’s committed to supporting her students beyond graduation. Ms. Pryor even spends extra time with the school’s “GEMS” program, which stands for Girls Educated and Motivated by Success.
"When they give me energy, that just gets me motivated,” says Pryor. “When I see them learning, that's where my energy comes from, my students."
With retirement somewhere on the horizon, she says she’s thankful for the opportunity to serve a community she loves so dearly.
"From these years of education, I'm going to take with me the knowledge that I made a difference with my students,” says Pryor. “Even if it was just one student. I'm going take that with me because when I see them evolve from the beginning of the school year to the end, that is just unbelievable to see that growth.”
“Ms. Pryor means a lot to us,” says Wright. “She really, really wants to be here and she really has a love for children.”
That’s why Ms. Valerie Pryor is our News19 Teacher of the Week.
If you know a teacher like Ms. Pryor who deserves to be recognized for her hard work in the classroom, you can email us at TOW@WLTX.com.
