A lifelong love of learning, history and engaging young minds has led one educator to receive a most esteemed award.

Amy Ponder is Thomas County Central High School 2019 Teacher of the Year. She is a first-time honoree.

“I am so proud to represent the school system I have worked in for 22 years,” Ponder said. “This is an honor to me because I have watched many other teachers who I revere and admire get this honor. It is motivation to continue to teach the best I can.” 

One of Ponder’s current U.S. history students, Joan Green, feels the recognition is well-deserved.

“Mrs. Ponder’s teaching style is very funny,” she said. “She constantly has funny ways for us to remember things. Mrs. Ponder works very hard and deserves the recognition.”

Teaching is in Ponder’s DNA. More than 16 of her family members are teachers including her father, who taught history for 38 years.

“He taught me the value of history by taking my family to historic places and his ability to make history fun,” Ponder said.

The educator graduated high school in Ilion, New York. She earned an associate degree from Herkimer County Community College, her Bachelor of Science in secondary education in social sciences from State University of New York in Oneonta and her master’s in educational leadership from Valdosta State University. Currently, she is finishing her educational specialist in instructional technology from Valdosta State University in May.

Before she moved to Thomasville, Ponder taught world history in Ilion. Though she wanted a job at a high school, her first stop with Thomas County Schools was as a substitute and then a paraprofessional at Hand-In-Hand Primary School in 1997.

“Mr. Larry Green (former superintendent) told me it would be best that I show my interest by taking a position anywhere in the system,” Ponder said. “I loved HNH. I was trained as a secondary teacher but found that little ones are wonderful. I think it is ironic that some of my students at HNH ended up in my classroom at the high school.”

Ponder’s chance to move to high school came in 1999 when she was offered a position as parapro to Laura Kornegay’s chemistry classes.

“I acted as her parapro for one-half of a school year,” she said. “When the school year ended, there was a position for a social studies teacher at TCCHS for the next year. I was blessed to be able to work at the school I so badly wanted to work at.”

But there are many blessings to working at TCCHS, Ponder continues.

“I have to say that students from TCCHS are the best,” she said. “I have found that the manners, the solid religious backgrounds, and great parenting has produced children I am very proud to teach. The support of parents and administration can almost be considered family. Although I came from another part of the U.S., I feel part of a family at Thomas County Schools.”

Ponder teaches both general education and Advanced Placement classes.

“I love the idea that there is an option for our students to receive college credit at our school,” she said. “To accomplish a college course during high school years is an economical and time-saving option. I love to see the quality of students that apply themselves to the raised rigor of a college level course.”

She’s taught world history, economics, current issues, study skills, U.S. history, psychology, AP psychology and AP art history. Currently, she teaches U.S. history, AP psychology, AP art history and psychology.

“I enjoy teaching history because I often have students who were in my class come back and tell me how they remember some aspect of history they learned in my class,” Ponder said. “Psychology is something that students can relate to. It deals with human behavior and interpretations. Students can easily see examples of themselves in the areas we study.”

The main attraction in Ponder’s classroom is the students.

“I believe teaching students of today’s generation takes an ability to adjust,” she said. “Sometimes things that used to work in generations past don’t work with today’s generations. These students have a quick-paced mind, and you have to be pretty quick to keep their attention. Variation seems to be the key. I love to interact with students, for them to tell me something they have observed or when they just don’t understand something. Then we work on making them understand it.”

A favorite activity that helps Ponder’s psychology students get into the heads of others is compiling psychological profiles of famous personalities who have abnormal actions.

“This has many students excited to study and find out what they predict is the reason this person had such an abnormal life,” she said. “Students get so excited to learn about these people and then apply their psychological knowledge. It is fun and enlightening for me each year!”

Ponder is different from other teachers, according to former student Tyler Rogers, who wrote a recommendation letter for Ponder while on active duty as a squadron surgeon with the U.S. Army. Ways she stands out, to him, include being unapologetically different and unique but still relatable, being open and unassuming, being uniquely hilarious, and her ability to love her students.

“M[r]s. Ponder made us feel loved,” Rogers writes in his letter. “She made us feel safe. She made us feel important, and she made us feel inspired about our potential.”

Rogers equates Ponder’s impact on her students to the lyrics of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” – a song Ponder also uses to give students perspective of events in American history.

“As a high school teacher, most of her students have decided the type of student they want to be,” he writes. “M[r]s. Ponder’s biggest strength is to find them right where they are and stoke ‘the fire that was always burning’ to push them to be better. Sure, she convinced a couple of them to be better students, but her crowning achievement, from my perspective, is that she pushed us all to be better human beings.”

TCCHS Social Studies Department Chair Leigh Barwick calls Ponder a fantastic colleague, teacher and friend.

“It's easy to brag on Amy Ponder because she's the real deal,” Barwick said. “She works tirelessly for her kids, both in and out of the classroom. She spends a great deal of time planning interactive lessons as well as helping with extracurricular activities. Humor and creativity are two traits that she possesses and she uses them regularly as a part of her instruction. I'm so proud of Amy for achieving this recognition.”

In extracurricular activities, Ponder has sponsored the school’s Key club for about 12 years and coached its Quiz bowl team the last four years. Quiz bowl teams have qualified for nationals two of these years.

“Mrs. Ponder loves to be involved in the community, which is why she’s great for Key club,” member and past pupil Aaliyah Wynn said. “It doesn’t matter what we’re working with; she doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty. She’s also a great teacher because she always finds a way to add humor to the lesson.”

Ponder is married to husband Vince, who is a 1985 Central graduate, and has a daughter named Ellen, who graduated from TCCHS in 2017 and is currently attending the University of Georgia. Outside of school, Ponder enjoys reading and drawing. A couple of interesting tidbits about her life include being a New York state champion swimmer – the 50-meter free and 100-meter butterfly – and she sang professionally in a band called The Golden Classics for approximately 12 years.

This adventurous approach to life is evident in her advice to fellow educators: keep changing and evolving.

“No matter how hard it may be, change is inevitable,” Ponder said. “Those who adapt will survive. Be willing to try new things. The endless cycle of education will continue to change. It isn’t always your favorite change but wait 10 minutes; it will change again.”