WORCESTER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS -

The Maryland Art Education Association and Worcester County Public Schools is recognizing it's Outstanding (Career) Art Educators for the 2020-21 school year. These honorees show excellence in their profession, provide quality art education to our students, and exemplify the definition of a creator and innovator. These teachers work with students outside of the classroom, help increase public awareness of the importance of the arts, participate in and present for professional development and help advance their profession.

We are proud to recognize Showell Elementary Art Teacher, Mrs. Lindsey Winters. Mrs. Winters is in her fifth year of teaching and is active in her arts community. She also teaches for the Art League of Ocean City and has been working virtually with students both in and out of the classroom. Mrs. Winters regularly attends MAEA professional development events, has taken classes on early childhood arts and is also interested in art therapy. She loves to connect literacy and art history with art creation and expression! The love and kindness she shows her Showell students is immeasurable.

Also recognized is Snow Hill Middle School Art Teacher, Mrs. Heather Shockley. Mrs. Shockley is in her 13th year of teaching art. Mrs. Shockley is well-known for her love and passion of the process of creative expression. While the product is important, she helps students navigate the artistic design process and helps her students find their personal voice and vision, through art. She also helps introduce her students to new technologies and artistic app programs on their ipads. 

Finally, we are pleased to recognize and celebrate Mrs. Alexandra Tobiassen at Pocomoke High School. She has taught art in the Pocomoke schools for 12 years and is a beloved part of her school community. She works hard to help students learn and refine artistic techniques with a wide variety of media. She also helps her art students learn how they can become working artists and designers in the real-world. She created the PHS design studio where students can screenprint, lasercut, embroider and more! She always goes above and beyond for her students and colleagues.

Worcester County is fortunate to be the home of so many talented arts teachers and we are particularly proud to celebrate these individuals this school year. This has been a challenging year for the arts, where hands-on, performance-based content may have been impacted. However, these teachers did not let a pandemic keep them from reaching their students. They sent home art kits and materials to students, created videos of direct instruction and never let learning be paused!