Tabitha Purvis of Euchee Creek Elementary School was named the 2025 Columbia County Teacher of the Year, Monday night.
“It’s kind of hard sometimes to sit back and see how far you’ve raised the bar,” said the fifth-grade math and science teacher, now in her 19th year as an educator, not inclined to see her vocation, she noted, as a competition with anyone but herself.
Columbia County School District (CCSD) held its Teacher of the Year banquet at the Columbia County Exhibition Center in Grovetown, starting a livestream of the event at 6 p.m.
The district honored 31 one of its teachers during the celebration—17 elementary school, eight middle school and six high school teachers of the year. Among them were five finalists for the highest honor of the evening, first announced in September: Tawana Odom, from Harlem High, Kynisha Okonkwo from Harlem Middle, Debra Hunter-Green from Martinez Elementary and Rebecca Blumenthal from South Columbia Elementary School, alongside Purvis.
Teachers are selected through a rigorous process in which a panel of judges—education leaders from inside and outside the district—score applications from “teachers of the quarter” selected from throughout the county. The judges then visit the schools of the highest scoring teachers, interview them and see how they perform in the classroom.
“A common thread among each of their classrooms, students were engaged in their learning, lessons were enriching, and each inspired their students to excel,” said Associate Superintendent Kellye Bosch, before presenting the five finalists.
The recognitions included gift packages, featuring gift cards an iPad, a month of free car washes from Sparkle Car Wash and $500 in cash bonuses. The Teacher of the Year is also awarded a one-year lease of a new BMW, and is submitted as a candidate for Teacher of the Year for the state.
Before the festivities ended, Crystal McDowell of Greenbriar High, Teacher of the Year for 2023, gave a presentation that included a story, exhorting the support of public schools. She recalled being asked to speak at a Georgia Teachers of the Year conference, discussing what she would do as Georgia ambassador of public education.
She would go on to ask her colleagues at school—fellow teachers, administrators, custodians, students and parents—what was important to them, learning the greatest common emphasis was centering the learning interests of the students.
“I sat and I listened. I told everyone I was taking them with me, and regardless of what happened, I was going to elevate their voices and be the ambassador that I hoped that I could be for them,” McDowell said, urging her fellow educators to represent the best of what public schools have to offer, and reminding, “everyone that public education is the best democratic process we have access to in order to grow and to develop our children, our communities and our state.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
