Jackson Free Press

"I wear a lot of hats," Althea Stewart says. When Jim Hill students want to get something going at their school, they usually call on 39-year-old Stewart, who already sits on the Black History committee, is a cheerleading coach, coordinates homecoming and organizes all the school dances.

She is also a powerhouse in the classroom. Originally from Natchez, Stewart has taught in the Jackson Public Schools for 14 years. She currently teaches 10th grade world history and 12th grade history of the Americas. She holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Southern Mississippi, a bachelor of science in social science education from Alcorn State and two master's degrees from Jackson State—one in history and the other in guidance and counseling.

Stewart is one of 12 JPS employees who recently earned national certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. With 184 teachers in the newest class, Mississippi ranks 13th in the country for newly certified teachers.

"This is probably the highest honor that I can receive," said Stewart. "I did it for me, as well as my kids. I've become a better teacher—I've become more aware of things that I may have taken for granted over the years because I have done it so long."

The process for board certification took Stewart more than a year (the program can take anywhere from one to three years). She began the process in July 2005. After a week of seminars, she was assigned a mentor and given deadlines for her portfolio and testing requirements. The portfolio included four entries, the first of which dealt with student writing, the second and third with large and small group teaching methods, and the fourth with accomplishment as a teacher.

For this fourth requirement, Stewart started a Web site where parents could go online to communicate with her, which ended up being particularly effective—especially for students whose parents did not live in the immediate area. "One of my parents was communicating with me from Atlanta," Stewart says. "I would put progress reports online, and he would e-mail me about his daughter's work."

Stewart's favorite piece of history to teach is the Cold War because of "the whole concept of having fought a war from 1945 to the 1990s without actually fighting a war the whole time," she says. She likes teaching her students—products of capitalism and democracy—about communism, which she says gives them "a totally different scope."

"Every time I teach something, I learn myself," Stewart says. "Not only am I a teacher, I'm an eternal student."