Faye Swinney

By Bernie Moussad for the FCT

bernie.moussad@fct.wpengine.com

Faye Swinney, teacher at Tharptown Elementary, has been in her profession for 30 years. To end her career, she was awarded the Teacher of the Year.

Swinney first attended Union Junior High School then moved to Phil Campbell High School, where she eventually graduated. She then went to Northwest-Shoals Community College, which was then called Northwest Junior College. Swinney transferred to University of North Alabama to obtain her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education.

In her 30 years of teaching, Swinney has taught grades K-9. For the past two years, she taught 5th and 6th grade history classes.

“(They) made my last two years of my teaching career great, and it has been an honor and privilege to have had the opportunity to be their teacher,” she said. Swinney said she feels that “a teacher always learns more than her students and that in some small way I was able to achieve a perfect balance in my history classes between correcting and loving.” She also wanted her students to understand that “Freedom is not free,” and she hopes she expressed this well to them.

When Swinney was given the award, she said she felt thankful. “We have all shared much laughter and many tears through the years. I am so blessed for all of their friendships and that they have been a part of my life,” said Swinney of her coworkers.

She will soon begin a new journey: retirement. She’s thankful for all of the “wonderful, interesting, thoughtful, respectful and loving colleagues, some of whom I also consider close friends.” She would like to say “thank you from the bottom of my heart” to these people.

Swinney also wanted to thank God for “giving me the knowledge and health to be a teacher,” and she wanted to thank her family for all of their support throughout the years.

Ann Scott, principal at Tharptown Elementary, said, “Mrs. Swinney was a fabulous teacher who loved her students.”  Scott witnessed Swinney go “the extra mile to make learning fun.”

“The students of TES loved her and hate to see her go,” Scott said. “Mrs. Swinney was very well respected by the students, parents, and faculty. She will truly be missed at Tharptown Elementary.”