Teacher of the Year brings history to life

Gary Southworth uses the newspaper to make his social studies lessons current for his sixth-grade students at Woodard Junior High School.

"One of the biggest things in making history relevant to the students is linking what's going on in today's history with what's gone on before," Southworth said.

His efforts in bringing the news to life earned Southworth the title of 2007 Newspapers in Education Teacher of the Year.

He received the award in a ceremony Monday night at the Yuma Art Center.

The honor is presented annually by The Sun to a teacher who uses the NIE program in an outstanding manner.

The winner was selected from a field of 13 other nominees by a panel of Sun staff members headed by NIE Manager Karen Phillips.

"There's always a teacher that seems to rise to the top with the way they use NIE and Gary was the one this year," Phillips said.

In addition to his social studies classes, Southworth teaches Woodard's newspaper class for high-achieving students. Those students produce the school publication "What's Up Woodard?" under his guidance.

Southworth's award comes with a $1,200 gift certificate to Best Buy. He said he plans to put it toward a new Macintosh laptop computer.

NIE put 14,000 newspapers into the hands of students all across the Yuma County area every week during the 2005-06 school year. More than 350 teachers in area public, charter and parochial schools participate.

NIE sponsors and partners were also recognized for providing newspapers to students or for providing products for NIE events.

The NIE partners recognized were: Arizona Public Service, Wells Fargo, Yuma Investment Group, Citizens Title and Trust, CTX Mortgage Brokers, Quechan Tribe, Pepsi, Little Caesars Pizza, Mr. Robert L. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Phil Schrier and Barenholtz Fine Furniture.

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.