By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observatuer

LAPLACE – A St. Charles Parish teacher was named the 2013 Louisiana High School Teacher of the Year during a recent ceremony in Baton Rouge honoring scores of educators from across the state.

Amanda Baudot, a 10th-grade English and creative writing teacher at Hahnville High School, received the honor during the sixth annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Symposium and Celebration held earlier this month. The selection process began with a local award from St. Charles Parish in March and a regional award in May.

“The Teacher of the Year process has been overwhelmingly rewarding,” Baudot said. “When you put in 12-hour days on a normal basis and you commit yourself to 150 students each year, it’s nice that someone notices. We have an amazing group of teachers at Hahnville High School and in St. Charles Parish, and I feel humbled and honored to represent them.”

Baudot has spent her entire career at Hahnville High School and will be entering her seventh year of teaching in the fall. She is following in the footsteps of her mother, Deborah Unger, who was also an English teacher at Hahnville High School.

“She was my English teacher in high school when I went to Andrew Jackson Fundamental Magnet High School in Chalmette,” Baudot said. “I know that all of my natural instincts come directly from her.”

Baudot said her goal as a teacher is to show her students that everyone in the classroom is in it together as a team that shares experiences, ideas and connections.

“I know that I have become successful because I learn everyday along with my students,” Baudot said. “I admire their insights, feed off their energy, and enjoy their company. Without them, I wouldn’t have had a chance of winning Teacher of the Year at my school, let alone at the state level.”

Baudot has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and creative writing with a minor in communication studies from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She is also finishing up her master’s in English literature at the University of New Orleans.

She is certified in secondary English from the Louisiana Resource Center for Education and is a member of the Louisiana Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. She also is a teacher consultant for the Greater New Orleans Writing Project. She is a senior project mentor, professional learning community facilitator for English II, a new teacher mentor, scholastic writing coordinator and English tutor at Hahnville High School.

Other winners at the state level are Melissa Williams of Ouachita Parish, the 2013 Elementary School Teacher of the Year, and Amanda Warren of St. Tammany Parish, the 2013 Middle School Teacher of the Year. Amy Weems, a teacher at Ouachita Parish Junior High School in Ouachita Parish, was named the overall Louisiana Teacher of the Year for 2013.

The 2013 Elementary School Principal of the Year is Nikki Fryou of St. Mary Parish; the 2013 Middle School Principal of the Year is Judy Grooms of Bossier Parish; and the 2013 High School Principal of the Year is Nanette McCann of East Baton Rouge Parish.

State-level winners of the teacher and principal of the year receive Community Coffee for one year in the school lounge, two tickets to Blue Bayou Water Park in Baton Rouge from Coca Cola, an ActivSound 100 system with four speakers from AXI Ed Solutions, a leather laptop bag from Pearson’s Travel, a $100 gift certificate from School Aids, a $100 discount coupon from H&R Block Tax Preparation and $2,500 from Dream Teachers.