ANDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — An Anderson County teacher is in the running for a major statewide honor: the Tennessee Teacher of the Year. And for Chrissy Rose, being in the top nine nominee's for the Tennessee Teacher of the Year Award is a big deal.
"Every single round has been a shock to me," Rose said. "When I won Grand Oaks Teacher of the Year and then Anderson County Teacher of the Year and then top 27 and top 9. Every single time I'm like, 'Is this real life? What is happening?'"
Rose has been teaching at Grand Oaks Elementary for the last seven school years and said her time at there has been pivotal for her.
"My intern year is actually the year that we ended early in March," she said. "So, that was very confusing time as an intern trying to figure out where am I going to work next year? What does the end of the school year look like? Because I didn't get to see that."
From learning to teach through Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, to being back in a classroom fulltime, she has had to learn to navigate school alongside her students.
"They're the best part of the job for sure," Rose said. "Without them, the days would not be as fun and they keep everything entertaining and they are the reason I do what I do."
She said her students are just as excited, or maybe more, as she is about the award. Rose recalled when she told them when she got top 27 and they showed their excitement. She said her students believesd in her at every stage, even joking about her winning "Earth Teacher of the Year," which she found sweet.
But Rose isn't the only stand-out staff member at Grand Oaks. Principal Jessica Conaster was also a finalist for the statewide Principal of the Year award.
The school as a whole also was labeled as a Reward School in the 2024-25 school year, a status that is the highest honor a school can achieve under federal accountability system.
Over the years, other Grand Oaks teachers have also been nominated for statewide Teacher of the Year.
"My teaching partner, Elizabeth Evans, she got to the top nine as well," Rose said. "So, she's been super helpful in the process of what she went through and then how to help me through the process as well."
Rose said that one thing the nomination has shown her is how much she's appreciated, not only by students and staff, but by their families as well.
"One of the steps when I got top 27, you could do letters of recommendation," she said. "So I've gotten a couple from parents and reading about how I've impacted their students far past my classroom has been so sweet."
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