Pinkston named CPSD Teacher of the Year

Special to The Canton News

The 2021-2022 District Teacher of the Year for the Canton Public School District is Ms. Felicia Pinkston. Superintendent Gary Hannah and the CPSD Board of Trustees honored Ms. Pinkston for her outstanding, loyal service and dedication to helping ensure scholars succeed. 

Felicia Pinkston also serves as Nichols Middle School 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year.

Pinkston is the eighth grade science teacher at Nichols Middle School. She has been teaching in Canton Public Schools for ten years.
Pinkston holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Jackson State University and a master’s degree in special education also from Jackson State University. Pinkston is professionally certified in Elementary K-6, Reading K-12, General Science 7-12, and Mild/ Moderate disabilities K-12.

According to her school district, “Pinkston is a dedicated, resourceful, and goal-driven professional educator with a solid commitment to the social and academic growth and development of every child. She has a strong passion to educate young minds and help them blossom into well-rounded, responsible, and successful individuals.”
Pinkston’s philosophy of education is that “all children, no matter their level, want to learn and are capable of setting and reaching their individual goals. Pinkston believes that all students have some sort of strengths, and that it is up to the educator to help students embrace their individual strengths by encouraging small group activities and allowing students to work collaboratively in groups to motivate each other.”

Pinkston wanted to become a teacher because she can relate to many of the challenges students coming up today have. She was raised in a divided, single-parent household, she was bullied in school, she didn’t catch on to the teachers’ instructions as quickly as others and she was hardly ever included by her peers, but she was motivated to be successful. 
Despite her challenges, she worked hard and allowed others to help her to not only graduate high school but to go to college and get a degree and more. Looking back at her accomplishments, Pinkston believes that she can help, motivate, and encourage her students to rise above any of their weaknesses or challenges and be successful in whatever they want to be in life.