A very special congratulations to the 2021 – 2022 Summit Classical School Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Kate Cheeks! Coach Cheeks is the Related Arts teacher for grades Kindergarten through 5th Grade at Summit. Related Arts includes Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Art, Physical Education, Health and Computers. She also coaches students after school. Mrs. Cheeks is a very busy lady!
Mrs. Cheeks has been teaching and coaching for 12 years. The past three years have been at Summit. She knew she wanted to be a coach from a young age. She later discovered her love for teaching because of her desire to have a positive impact on kids, “Teaching is my calling, coaching is my passion.”
Part of this passion includes helping students find their way to success. Sometimes that means noticing a child is struggling, and finding a way to make adjustments to her testing or teaching style to help that child feel successful. Or, it means making her classroom a safe place to be. It also means welcoming children to Summit each morning with a smile. In fact, her favorite part of the day is working morning car duty, because she gets to greet students before the day begins.
Many teachers and coaches inspired her to pursue this calling and passion. These inspirations include her World History Teacher, Mr. Luther Killian; her Civics teacher, Coach Joe Adams; her Teacher Cadet teacher, Mrs. Sheryl Gaskins; and her friend and current coworker, Nurse Joyce Adair. Each of them found ways to be inspiring, fun, and kind.
The incredible tight-knit community of Clinton, South Carolina makes working at Summit a joy for Mrs. Cheeks. She loves that she gets to educate the children of her own High School classmates and friends.
Summit Classical School is proud to honor Mrs. Cheeks as an outstanding teacher and a part of our all around amazing staff!