Kim Thomas dedicated - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

20 September 2007 — After 16 years of devoting her time and energy to educating elementary students in northern Wayne County, Kim Thomas was named Teacher of the Year at Northwest Elementary School. But receiving the award felt a little bittersweet for Kim – her grandmother did not live to see her receive it.

Growing up, Kim lived across the street from her grandmother, and the two became very close. Kim recalls that she used to listen to her grandmother tell stories, and one particularly stuck out for her.

“My Grandma wanted to be a teacher,” she said, “but her father couldn’t afford to send her to school long enough to become a teacher. She went to college, but could only go for a year.”

Kim knew early on that she, too, wanted to teach, and her grandmother’s story helped to motivate her to go on to pursue that dream.

“It’s like it was meant for me to be a teacher,” she said.

After graduating from Charles B. Aycock High School in 1986, Kim went to Greenville to earn her teaching degree at East Carolina University. While she was in Greenville, Kim said she felt very homesick, and so she returned to her hometown when she graduated in 1991 and began teaching.

Kim started out at Fremont Elementary, where she worked for 12 years. In addition to the time she spent working with kids in the classroom, Kim volunteered ample amounts of her time to help kids from the community as well.

The first year she worked at Fremont, Kim was asked to direct the Little Miss Daffodil pageant. The director at the time had to step down for health reasons, and so Kim was asked to help.

“I enjoyed it, and it was a way to get involved in the community,” she said. Kim even directed the pageant the year after she left Fremont STARS to begin teaching at Northwest.

Kim also helped establish and run an after school program at Fremont. She said that, after talking with several parents who lived out of district, she became aware of a need for after school care at Fremont. Kim then worked with Connie Greeson, who directs 4-H after school programs in the area, and established a 4-H program at Fremont.

Kim ran the program for two years at the school. After two years, the Boys and Girls Club was established in Fremont, and most of the kids who went to 4-H began attending there because it was less expensive for their parents.

For the next few years, Kim took care of the few kids who didn’t go to the Boys and Girls club on her own time, until the kids finished elementary school.

Kim is also a certified bus driver, subbing for other drivers. She said a big reason she had her licensure at Fremont was because it was beneficial for school field trips.

“The school is so small, it really helped to not have to pay an additional person to drive the bus,” she said. “The kids really enjoyed it too. It was like having their own personal tour guide.”

She kept her licensure as a bus driver when she moved to Northwest so she could substitute for absent drivers.

Though her work with kids at school and in the community is incredibly important to her, the thing that really keeps her going is her family.

Over the last 15 years, Kim has helped her parents raise her nephew, Brandon. Though Kim, who isn’t married, has never had biological children, it’s clear that Brandon is as important to her as any child of her own could be.

“Most people, if you ask them if I have any kids, will say that I do, because Brandon is like a son to me,” she said.

Over the years, she has volunteered with Cub Scouts and assisted with coaching baseball and softball teams to help Brandon get involved. As Brandon has entered high school, he developed an interest in wrestling, and Kim has volunteered there as well. Last year, the team needed a bus driver, so Kim volunteered to take the boys to competitions around the state, sometimes spending her entire weekend with a busload of high school boys.

Much of her free time is spent with her family, she said. Over the past few years, in addition to caring for Brandon, she also spent much of her time taking care of her grandmother. Before her grandmother passed away in January, Kim said she took her to appointments and helped her around the house.

And though Kim is devoted to Brandon, she is quick to tell you that she hasn’t raised him alone. Her parents Jimmy and Barbara have always been supportive, she said, of both of them, giving her financial support as well as helping out in any other way they can.

“They’re just really good to us,” she said.

Her family is also proud of the accomplishments she’s made as a teacher, including her recent Teacher of the Year award. And Kim knows that if her grandmother were still alive, she would be especially proud.

“She always wanted me to come teach where I grew up (in Nahunta),” she said. “Now that I got the award, I just wish she was here to see it.”