During Bulloch County’s annual celebration of its top educators’ dedication, passion, and perseverance, Heather Gonzales was named the 2024-2025 Bulloch County Teacher of the Year.
Gonzales will now represent Bulloch County in the Georgia Teacher of the Year competition which will begin this spring and culminate in a final announcement in May. The state winner will represent Georgia in the National Teacher of the Year competition in January 2026.
The Bulloch County Teacher of the Year Banquet, sponsored by the Statesboro Herald and held at Uncle Shugg’s Banquet Rooms on South Main Street in Statesboro, honored 15 school-level teachers of the year for their outstanding contributions to public education. It was from these educators that Gonzales and four other top finalists were named based on their experience and leadership and their application responses as to why they chose a career in education and what their public platform would be if they were named Georgia’s top educator.
With a career spanning over 14 years, including 12 with Bulloch County Schools, this year’s district teacher of the year, Heather Gonzales, a visual arts teacher at Southeast Bulloch Middle School, has demonstrated unwavering commitment to her students, a love for the arts and helping young minds find their confidence through creativity.
Her journey to the Bulloch County Teacher of the Year title is an inspiring story of overcoming challenges and finding empowerment through education—a story that resonates deeply with students and colleagues alike.
“She exemplifies a lot of our values, two of which are grit and resilience,” said Charles Wilson, superintendent of schools for Bulloch County.
As a visual arts teacher for grades 6-8, Gonzales’s influence reaches beyond the classroom, touching the hearts and minds of her students in profound ways. Her personal experience with dyslexia—a learning disability that can make academic skills like reading, writing, spelling, and comprehension more difficult—shaped her teaching philosophy. As a child she discovered that art provided a much-needed outlet, a space where she could thrive and express herself. This realization fueled her determination and career path to show students that challenges do not define them and that success comes in many forms.
“Growing up with Dyslexia was not easy, and I never felt like I was understood,” Gonzales shared in her teacher of the year contest application. “I was intelligent enough to know I was not dumb, but frustrated in the fact I could not show my intelligence in my academic classes.”
She shared that as a child school often became a place filled with stress and embarrassment; however, even if she often felt discouraged at school, she did find that she could thrive in other areas.
“This helped me not to be so self-conscious about my learning disabilities, Gonzales said. “Art was one of the biggest areas in which I would succeed. It gave me confidence and helped me find my place in school.”
She continued to find her place along her career journey. She first attended Ogeechee Technical College, where she obtained an associate’s degree in Advanced Early Childhood Education. She then attended the University of Alaska –Fairbanks for two years as a Ceramics major, before transferring to Georgia Southern University in 2004 to complete a bachelor’s degree in Art Education.
In 2008, she began her career with Bulloch County Schools as Mill Creek Elementary School’s visual arts teacher for Kindergarten through fifth-grade students. She then transferred to Langston Chapel Elementary in 2015, and then Southeast Bulloch Middle School in 2018.
“I became a teacher to not only share my love for creating art but to also create a safe bright place in school where all students can find success and feel like they belong,” Gonzales shared in her application about why she became a teacher. “I feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to create, to make messes and to build relationships with students every day. I love seeing them use critical thinking skills to create the art their imagination leads them to, but my most favorite thing about teaching Art is helping students realize that everyone can create, which makes them all an artist.”
Over the years, she has become a beacon of support and encouragement to her students who face their own struggles in and out of the classroom, teaching them not only the technical skills of art but also the resilience and self-expression that come with it. Gonzales’ resiliency is also demonstrated in her personal health as a cancer survivor.
The evening’s festivities were marked by speeches, award presentations, and heartfelt moments. Last year’s 2023-2024 Bulloch County Teacher of the Year and Georgia Teacher of the Year Top-10 finalist, Ashleigh Wright, delivered an inspiring message to the school-level teachers of the year, praising their commitment to their students and communities. Wright also had the honor of presenting Gonzales with a special gift from the College Football Playoff Foundation’s Extra Yard for Teachers initiative, which included a game ball, a t-shirt, and a Donors Choose gift card to help fulfill classroom wish list items.
In addition to the recognition and gifts, Gonzales received a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Bulloch County Foundation for Public Education, NFP Insurance Brokerage & Consulting, and Parker’s Convenience Stores’ Fueling the Community program. Parker’s and the Foundation also funded a $1,000 cash prize for the runner-up and $500 for each of the remaining 13 school-level teachers of the year.
Honoring the Finalists
The competition featured four other top finalists, each of whom was honored for their exceptional work:
- First Runner-Up, Kenyatta Washington, an eighth-grade science teacher at Langston Chapel Middle School;
- Second Runner-Up, Brittany Gay, a first-grade teacher at Julia P. Bryant Elementary School;
- Third Runner-Up, Ty Jilles, ninth-grade Algebra teacher at Statesboro High School, and
- Fourth Runner-Up, Stephanie Mackiewicz, a seventh-grade math teacher at William James Middle School.
These are the remaining 2024-2025 school-level Teachers of the Year from the district’s Teacher of the Year competition. They are a distinguished group of educators who are being recognized for their outstanding contributions at their individual schools. These teachers, along with the district’s winner and finalists, will be celebrated throughout the remainder of the school year:
• Nikki Messer, school counselor at Brooklet Elementary
• Desiree Penton, third-grade English language arts teacher at Langston Chapel Elementary
• Plysheltia Drayton, fifth-grade math teacher at Mattie Lively Elementary
• Angie Monahan, Kindergarten teacher at Mill Creek Elementary
• Michelle Mock, first-grade math teacher at Nevils Elementary
• Nancy Page, speech language pathologist at Portal Elementary
• Shannon Hattaway, Spanish teacher at Portal Middle High
• David Brown, STEM Lab teacher at Sallie Zetterower Elementary
• Charity Masters, an early childhood education career pathway teacher at Southeast Bulloch High
• Kristy Starling, third-grade teacher at Stilson Elementary
The Bulloch County community is proud of all its teachers and looks forward to cheering Gonzales on as she continues her journey in the state and, perhaps, national Teacher of the Year competitions. Since 2000, four Bulloch County Schools educators have been named as top-10 finalists for Georgia Teacher of the Year: Tiffany Todd (2010), Ashlee Mitchell (2012), Jemelleh Goes (2014), and Ashleigh Wright (2024). Two of the school district’s teachers have been named as Georgia Teacher of the Year: Julie Lanier of the former Marvin Pittman Lab School (1985) and Jemelleh Coes of Langston Chapel Middle School (2014).
