School and Community Winter 2024

with our community to improve our track facilities provide more opportunities for our track and field program.

Rhonda Hilt School District: Green Ridge R-8 Grade Level/Subject: Third grade Years Teaching: 12

Dr. Tana White School district: Kingston K-14 Grade level/subject: Instructional Specialist and Junior High Counselor Years teaching: 16 Roles in MSTA: Junior High Representative and CTA President Why did you get involved with MSTA?

Roles in MSTA: I have been the CTA president for our K-12 school for the last nine years. My vice president and myself do our enrollment

for MSTA. I also handle any communication for our school with our member service coordinator, making sure all of our employees are up to date with information and events that are organized by MSTA. Our CTA also uses the information about payroll and benefits that MSTA pushes out to coordinate with our superintendent about raises and possible benefits that our employees want to know more about. Why did you get involved with MSTA? I started out with MSTA by becoming a member as a new teacher. Then I was asked to be the president of our CTA when a former president stepped down. Through the CTA, I have become more involved with MSTA as the go-between for employees to get services through MSTA. I have been doing it for the last nine years because I want the best for the people that I work with, so I get their questions and/or concerns and relay them to those who can answer them. What is a recent win for you? One of the best things that our CTA has done is provide a scholarship for our seniors who are going into education. We have also been able to give a second, smaller scholarship in the past couple of years. What is one of your goals for 2024? To work with our administration and teachers to come up with ways to make new teachers feel welcomed and a part of our school community. I and other teachers are going to professional development opportunities to find ways that we can be better mentors to incoming teachers. Our hope is to increase the retention of teachers in our school district.

I originally became involved with MSTA to stay informed on educational issues at all levels. That involvement turned into becoming a part of the local CTA as an officer within my previous school district. Through that experience, I was able to facilitate collaboration between all stakeholders and improve educational processes and procedures. What has been a recent win for you? A recent win for me is that I have been able to form a strong collaborative relationship with our regional MSTA representative. We are currently working to create our first Kingston Community Teacher Association. This is something that has been needed for a long time and I have been able to work with valued members of our teaching staff to create a strong foundation for this committee. What is one of your goals for 2024? My biggest goal for the 2024-25 school year is to create a strong KCTA Membership. This is an incredible opportunity to both provide a focused support system for our members as well as to provide an avenue for educators to be heard.

Madison Knight School district: Chilhowee R-4 Grade level/subject: Kindergarten Years teaching: 3 Roles in MSTA: CTA president

Why did you get involved with MSTA? My co-teacher was our chapter president during my first year teaching. It was very easy to get involved in our district and the different things MSTA offers. What has been a recent win for you? Our CTA was recently able to help five families in our community during our Christmas toy drive. At the last minute, we were able to get a pair of shoes one of the teenagers had asked for - it was a big win to make that kiddo’s Christmas a little more special. What is one of your goals for 2024? One of my goals is to work

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