Mother blazed the trail for West Town’s Doris Greene
Doris Greene
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — Doris Greene, a finalist for Dougherty County’s 2016-17 Teacher of the Year and third grade teacher at West Town Elementary School, says most of the significant factors which pushed her into the teaching profession can be linked to her family or professional experience opportunities.
“My mother was a high school French teacher who was well respected among her colleagues,” Greene said. “Her strength, determination, faith and courage inspired me at an early age. To watch her work and battle breast cancer only to lose her battle 11 days before my 18th birthday was heart breaking.
“The uncertainties that can come along with no longer having a traditional family formed a strong, hard, and fearless survivor. I wanted to make my mother proud of me, and it was confirmation for me the path I needed to take when our lives began to run almost parallel.”
Like her mother, Green also fought her own bout with breast cancer.
The path she chose led her through the Girl Scouts, to the Department of Children Services and eventually into the classroom.
“While I always had been drawn to working with youth, I still knew I needed to do more,” Greene said. “The career change from DFCS to teaching was a transformation for me. I felt as if the ‘purpose light’ had come on for me. Becoming a teacher not only fulfilled my dream of being like my mother, it completed the desire to make her proud of me.
“And, most importantly, it gave me a reason to live.”
Greene has been with the Dougherty County School System for the past nine years.
She holds a B.A. in Psychology and a Masters of Education from Albany State University; and Educational Specialist certification from Argosy University.
In addition to Greene, the seven other Teacher of the Year finalists are: Nayonda Gibson, Monroe ; Kaysha Young-Brown, Live Oak Elementary; Alshrentia Cutliff, Merry Acres Middle School; Derrick Greene, Lincoln Elementary Magnet School; Yolanda Jackson, Albany Middle School; Jasmine McPhatter, Alice Coachman Elementary; and Lidia Olds, International Studies Elementary Charter School.
Dougherty County’s 2016-17 Teacher of the Year will be announced at a banquet Thursday evening at the Hilton Garden Inn.
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