Earlier this year, Bridget Weaver completed her first year of working as a curriculum coach at Pine Grove Elementary School, but she is anything but new to the teaching ranks in Baldwin County.

“This was my first year at Pine Grove; however, I have been a teacher and coach in Baldwin County for 20 years,” Weaver says. “I also taught at Bay Minette Middle School and Bay Minette Elementary School.”

Regardless of where she is teaching, Weaver says she hopes to impact the lives of her students in two positive ways.

“First, our goal [as teachers] has to be to develop lifelong learners who have a desire and passion to continue learning throughout their lives,” Weaver says. “Second, I hope to model compassion and love toward students they can in turn show toward others throughout their lives.”

Along with the opportunity to make a positive difference in her students’ lives, Weaver says she enjoys the variations each year in the classroom.

“No two years are ever the same, because students change, curriculum changes and sometimes my role has changed, as well,” Weaver says. “Those changes keep it interesting and challenging.”

Above all else, Weaver says her favorite aspect of teaching is learning from her students.

“My favorite part of teaching is continuing to learn,” Weaver says. “We spend a lot of our lives immersed in what we already know. I still enjoy learning new things and better ways of doing things. I enjoy figuring out new things and challenging myself in that respect.”

Weaver says a number of teachers from her own youth taught her valuable lessons she would later use when she became a teacher.

“My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Adams, taught me discipline,” Weaver says. “My sixth grade science teacher, Mr. Green, taught me learning could be fun. My middle school English teacher, Mrs. Perry, taught me a love of writing. I had so many great teachers at Citrus High School in Inverness, Florida. Mrs. Koehler taught me to understand math. Mr. Harper taught me to argue and defend my beliefs, and I had a few literature teachers who taught me to analyze and form opinions based on what I read.”

As much as those teachers taught her, Weaver says it was her parents who have had the biggest influence on her life.

“No teacher ever impacted me or taught me more about life than my parents,” Weaver says. “I think that is true for most children, as well.”

TEACHER: Bridget Weaver

SCHOOL: Pine Grove Elementary School

SUBJECT(S) TAUGHT: Curriculum coach

SOMETHING UNUSUAL ABOUT YOURSELF: My students wouldn’t know I was voted Citrus High School Homecoming Queen in Inverness, Florida, back in 1990.