Irmo teacher worked from home, so SC brought Teacher of the Year award to her door
Sarah Gams woke up Thursday knowing someone was going to be named South Carolina’s Teacher of the Year — and that it could be her.
But the English teacher at Spring Hill High School still wasn’t prepared when she saw a caravan of cars pull up outside her Irmo home that morning. Her principal, the superintendent of Lexington-Richland 5 and the S.C. superintendent of education were coming up her driveway, along with a giant check for $25,000 and a train of media cameras.
This was a unique way for the state’s best teacher to find out she had won. Coronavirus caused the annual dinner where South Carolina’s top teachers learn who had been named Teacher of the Year. So instead, the state’s educational leadership made the trek to this subdivision, where an emotional Gams was not quite ready for them.
“I feel like Publishers Clearing House,” said S.C. Superintendent Molly Spearman. “We should have brought balloons.”
But for those celebrating in Gams’ front yard, this felt appropriate. Not only did it feel more intimate for Gams’ family, friends and colleagues, but it emphasized that this year, and perhaps next year, teachers have had to adapt to teaching and working from home.
Gams threw herself into that challenge when Spring Hill stopped having in-person classes in March, and she had to finish out the school year at home.
“I was trying to decide how to do it like normal, and then I had that light bulb moment that there is no normal anymore,” Gams said.
Instead she focused on what each of her students would need to finish out a strange year. But that’s not a new development in Gams’ career. Spring Hill Principal Michael Lofton, who has worked with Gams for years, said she always tailors her style and the material to the needs of individual students.
“I’ve never seen her teach the same lesson twice,” Lofton said. “Every year is a new year for her. I’ve asked her, ‘why don’t you teach this the way you did a year ago?’ And she will say, ‘these are different kids.’”
Gams has taught everything from seventh-grade English to Advanced Placement, and Lofton said she has proven herself willing to teach to all levels and abilities successfully.
She wants to spend her year as Teacher of the Year making sure every student and teacher has access to the technology they need to be successful.
Growing up in small-town Chesterfield, Gams saw how the local school was always at the center of community life, whether during the homecoming parade, or when she recruited businesses to sponsor her high school yearbook.
“When I went to USC, I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “And I didn’t want to teach everything I know, but I wanted to let them discover everything that they want to know.”
Gams was most effected by the fact her son Jake, a second grader in Lexington-Richland 5, was home to see his mother win the award.
“It’s a way to pay it forward,” a teary-eyed Gams said. “I know someone else in first grade, second grade, third grade, is going to give their all to make sure my son is successful. So it feels like these students are my child.”
In addition to the $25,000 Gams plans to put back into the classroom at Spring Hill, the title of Teacher of the Year comes with a new 2020 BMW X5 40i, a one-year gift donated by the German carmaker’s Spartanburg production plant.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
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