Excellent Educators is a WAVY-TV 10 initiative to celebrate local teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students and communities during the last academic year. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!
Name: Amy Killian
Division: Hampton City Schools
Position: Family Engagement Specialist at Mary S. Peake Elementary School
What the school division said about this Excellent Educator: Amy Killian has served as the family engagement specialist at Mary S. Peake for over 10 years. In her role, she provides opportunities to students and families to help ensure their child’s academic success through the development and enhancement of home and school partnerships. Additionally, she helps the educators build strong, lasting relationships with their families through targeted educational activities.
Recently she sponsored a “Pop It Book Bag” giveaway, where the students were given a math task card to do with their families and take selfies of themselves while completing the task. The response was tremendous. Students were excited to finish the math tasks and see their faces on the wall as they entered the building. This activity impacted nearly every student in the building and it promoted so much more than learning as students were able to spend quality time with their families under the blanket of math.
In addition to the support she provides instructionally, she is able to foster relationships with many of Mary S. Peake’s community partners. Killian was a major factor in the holiday surprise “party” that was provided to Mary S. Peake staff in December. She coordinated the event alongside one of Peake’s strong community partners (Anchor Realty) and flipped the school’s cafeteria in about an hour with candlelit round tables, each with black and gold decorations, along with personal messages from parents and other community partners as a centerpiece. Staff were treated to a catered dinner from a nearby Italian restaurant and live music from a local musician.
Killian was also the primary planner for the school’s renaming ceremony in September. She is credited with creating the school’s tagline, “From Tiny Acorns, Mighty Oaks Grow!”
Killian would not consider herself a teacher, but the level of support she provides to the students and staff at Mary S. Peake to promote teaching and learning makes her a true educator. Her depth of impact is just as important as her width of impact. Her daily encouragement and support lifts up students, families, teachers, and staff.
