Christy Gilpin

Mrs. Gilpin came into our lives during a very uncertain school year. Initially, we had 41 students in our second grade virtual class and it was very difficult to get through our live instruction portion of our day. The class was split and we were moved to a new teacher named Mrs. Gilpin. We had just begun settling in to the dreaded “new normal” and it was changing already. Mrs. Gilpin greeted her second grade class virtually the next day with a huge smile and a sweetness about her that instantly washed away our worries. She manages to impact each student and empower them to learn, even in a makeshift classroom that they’re not used to having as a learning space. She takes the time to ask a group of second graders how they’re doing and genuinely listens to them. She allows them to log into meetings early to chit chat with one another and stays after the meetings to greet students who want some 1 on 1 time or have a concern. She has even embraced our four year old and allowed her to sit in on attendance and “mark her present” as well as story time at the end of the day. She makes class fun by showing cool videos and creating a learning experience out of them. She’s extremely organized and eliminates the stress the students could potentially feel in a virtual classroom with assignments to turn in and tests to take. We can’t wait until it is safe to see Mrs. Gilpin in person and give her a huge hug. Through all the uncertainty that has been this past year, Mrs. Gilpin has been a shining light for us. We all look forward to hearing her say “Good Morning!” everyday. We never log out of class without knowing how much Mrs. Gilpin cares about us and the feeling is mutual!

Riley Lyon