B

Hamblen County Schools recently announced Shelley Green from Lincoln Heights Elementary was named Principal of the Year.

“I was completely in shock and was speechless for the first few seconds. I think my first words were, ‘No way,’” Green said. “I thought about how amazing all the other principals are and wondered how I received this recognition among so many others.”

Green has dedicated more than 10 years to students in Hamblen County in a variety of leadership positions.

Since 2018, Green has held the title of principal at Lincoln. During her time as principal she led Lincoln to achieve Reward Status for two years and maintained an atmosphere of continuous improvement.

Green began her journey to become a teacher at Tusculum College in 2007, where she received her Bachelors of Arts in K-8 Education. She furthered her education in 2017 at Lincoln Memorial University, receiving her Masters of Art in Instructional Leadership.

As Green led Lincoln for the past five years she finds herself serving staff and students rather than just leading.

“I am definitely a servant leader,” Green said. “My priority is to serve our staff, students and families to ensure that students get the best education possible.

“It’s usually difficult to find me in my office. My favorite place to be is in classrooms with the teachers and students and participate in all the learning that’s happening. You may find me helping with lunch duty, too.”

Green believes, a good solid education is the key to students having a successful life.

“Students having a successful life means we have healthier families and communities and ultimately a better world,” Green said. “The impact that I have on students is to model for them that hard work will pay off and just never give up. Patriots always do whatever it takes.”

Although Green believes education is important, she believes instilling good character traits in students is a building block to retain a good education.

“I think developing strong character in our students is the foundation to any other educational initiatives that we do at Lincoln.”

As principal she created the PRIDE Program that asks students to reflect on good character traits.

“I think our Patriot PRIDE Program is the most influential in our students’ education,” Green said. “Patriot PRIDE is a character building program. The PRIDE stands for Polite, Respect, Integrity, Discipline and Effort.

“Each day we model what these character traits look like. Our students are rewarded daily and each nine weeks for having these five good character traits.”

As Green continues her time in education she finds her motivation comes from her students and helping them achieve their dreams.

“I think what motivates me the most is that I genuinely love children; I love everything about them,” Green said. “I want them to dream, dream big. I want them to know anything is possible if they focus their mind on it, learn and work hard.”