Ms. Rodgers was named the 2019 LCPS Teacher of the Year on April 23rd, she received this award because of her role as the sponsor of global ambassadors, the International Youth Leadership Summit, as well as teaching Government.

Ms. Rodgers explained of her reaction, “I was very humbled because there are so many good teachers just here Dominion, much less like the whole county.”

This mark has been massive at Dominion as she has spent 14 years teaching at Dominion, she has been working as a teacher in general for 16 years. Her impact has been seen throughout the school’s staff as well as students.

Mr. Hicks, the head of the history department, said of Rodgers award, “I’m just credibly honored to be one of the folks working with her. I think it’s a fantastic well-deserved award.” Ms. Vereb, an assistant principal at Dominion, said, “She’s just constantly grinding so I’m excited to see her be recognized.”

ALTAS, the parent organization, nominated Ms. Rodgers for the award. Ms. Rodgers explained, “In very early in the school year Dr. Brewer came to me and said that there is a committee on Atlas that nominates people and they chose me to nominate this year.” She also expressed her hesitation in accepting the award, she said, “I worked very hard to get resources for the summit. So maybe me getting this individual recognition, even though it’s a team effort that might, I hope that that could be a good way to get more resources for the summit in the future.”

Funding for the International Leadership Summit always seems to be something that is Ms. Rodgers priority. She said, “I hope that the recognition gets people and LCPS administration thing about this international summit program.” She expressed how the International Summit could be supported, “How can we put some resources towards that so that it can reach even more students and be even more robust.”

Hicks expressed his excitement for Ms. Rodgers’ nomination, he said, “I was fully on board with their nomination of her, I thought that was spectacular.” As far as his reaction to her receiving the award, he said, “I did a little “whoop” and I thought it was great.” Ms. Vereb also showed the pride that Dominion has for Ms. Rodgers, she said, “She works incredibly hard. So I’m so excited to see her occur in that.”

Due to Ms. Rodgers teaching government and her involvement with the International Youth Leadership Summit, she has had a very unique impact on students. Mr. Hicks described, “Her lessons are very real life. So they’re going to remember her lessons for the rest of their lives, and they’re going to help that’s going to help the kids interact with the world and people from different countries and people within our country.” Ms. Vereb also said, “It’s her goal, to work diligently with students all year to grow them, outside of their comfort zones, to educate them so that they can be contributors to our society.”

The classroom experience with Ms. Rodgers is very interactive, as Mr. Hicks explained, “When I observe her at her classroom, it’s fantastic because I never know what’s going to go on. Like there was a Skype with a guy with Doctors Without Borders. And then she has school board members come in. And she always makes her classes very real world.” He also added, “She is making positive memories and making the world a more positive place by really getting the kids to think globally and not locally.”

Ms. Rodgers also expressed her proudest moments as a teacher at Dominion, “I think as teachers, you really have to like embrace a lot of little moments like seeing students grow. Especially as a government teacher, open[ing students] to new ideas and new perspectives, or learn to advocate for changes and policies they don’t like.”

Due to Ms. Rodgers influential role in the International Leadership Summit, she has made connections and spread her influence throughout the county and world. Ms. Vereb said, “She exposes our students are Titans to things they would never be exposed to. She touches students all around the division.” She also added, “She’s created these experiences for students that aren’t just Titans.” Ms. Rodgers said of the leadership summit, she said, “I see that change a lot of hearts and minds of students like opening up to different ways of viewing the world so.”

There were many people within the halls of Dominion which helped support Ms. Rodgers. “I’m really appreciative for having like Mr. Hicks as my department chair and Dr. brewers, my principal for all these years and having so many colleagues that allowed me to learn from them all the time, because, for me, I’m constantly the process of trying to become a better teacher even still,” she said.

Ms. Rodgers also shared a valuable experience of taking a sabbatical to travel the world over the 2014-2015 school year. Ms. Rodgers said, “I think [this] unique [experience] coming back [to Dominion], and then four years later, winning this award shows that teachers really do benefit from having an opportunity to step away from the classroom. And then and then come back [and] see things differently.” She traveled to 35 countries that year, she said, “I think that served me well. And so I think that Loudoun County should adopt policies that make it easier for teachers to do that.”