Ļć½¶Ö±²„

Ļć½¶Ö±²„graduate student receives national teaching honor

Ļć½¶Ö±²„graduate student receives national teaching honor

Contact: Paige Watson

Melanie S. Pittman of Carver Middle School is a 2016 selection for the National Association for Alternative Certificationā€™s Teacher Intern of the Year award. She is an Ļć½¶Ö±²„College of Education graduate student planning to earn her masterā€™s degree in May. (Photo submitted/Meridian School District.)

STARKVILLE, Miss.ā€”A Meridian public school educator currently pursuing a Mississippi State graduate degree is receiving a national honor.

Melanie S. Pittman of Carver Middle School is a 2016 selection for the National Association for Alternative Certificationā€™s Teacher Intern of the Year award. A seventh-grade mathematics instructor, she is scheduled to graduate from the university next month with a masterā€™s degree in teaching.

Each year, the Washington, D.C.-based NAAC recognizes three new teachers for demonstrating successful classroom instruction that contributes significantly to the profession. Other winners this year work at schools in Austin and Irving, Texas.

After a decade with the Regions banking system, Pittman said she decided to volunteer with Mississippi Gulf Coast middle schools ā€œto teach financial literacy through a program that Regions offered.ā€ When her family decided to move to Meridian, ā€œI knew it was the perfect time for me to go back to school to get my teaching license,ā€ she said.

Propelled by a passionate belief that all children deserve good teachers, Pittman enrolled in the alternative-route teacher certification program in Mississippi Stateā€™s College of Education. The training holds participants to the same standards and coursework requirements that all state teachers must meet.

Associate professor Rebecca Robichaux-Davis recommended Pittman for the NAAC award ā€œbecause she was one of the best first-year teachers I ever have observed in my 20-plus years of observing pre-service and beginning in-service mathematics teachers.ā€

Robichaux-Davis is an Auburn University doctoral graduate with earlier degrees completed at Louisiana State and Nicholls State universities. She said Pittmanā€™s passion for teaching is evident from the moment one walks into her classroom.

Pittman admitted recently that ā€œbecoming a teacher and actually teaching have been some of the hardest things I ever have done.

ā€œThey also have been among the most rewarding,ā€ she quickly emphasized.

For more about MSUā€™s alternate route teaching certification program, visit .

Information on the NAAC is found at .

Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiā€™s leading university, available online at .