Hoover nominates educators from Rocky Ridge, Bumpus, Spain Park for JSU Teacher Hall of Fame
The Hoover City Schools district this month nominated teachers from Rocky Ridge Elementary, Bumpus Middle and Spain Park High for the Jacksonville State University Teacher Hall of Fame.
The teachers are:
- Elizabeth Gilmore, a fifth-grade teacher from Rocky Ridge Elementary
- Gerald Stephens, a language arts teacher from Bumpus Middle
- Jill Wallace, a social studies teacher from Spain Park High
Gilmore is in her 12th year as a fifth-grade teacher at Rocky Ridge. She started teaching there immediately after graduating from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a minor in psychology in Decmeber 2005. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2010.
Gilmore is an Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) trainer for Hoover City Schools, a member of the Rocky Ridge science leadership committee and Rocky Ridge yearbook committee. She attended the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy in New York City, was awarded a NASA fellowship, received a scholarship to attend the Honeywell Educators Space Academy and spent a week at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center doing water filtration research through the NASA Explorer Schools program.
Stephens became a teacher after spending 25 years as a Presbyterian minister. He joined the Bumpus faculty in 2007 and since 2011 has taught English to eighth-graders. He also is certified to teach French, history and English as a second language.
He has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Tennessee, a master of divinity degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and a master of arts degree in education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Wallace has been teaching for 20 years, all with Hoover City Schools. She taught world history at Simmons Middle School for 11 years and has spent the past nine years at Spain Park High, teaching American history and Advanced Placement human geography.
She has a bachelor’s degree from Samford University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Gilmore, Stephens and Wallace will be considered for the Jacksonville State University Teacher Hall of Fame along with nominees from other school districts throughout the state. A selection committee in recent years has interviewed five finalists from each of the elementary, middle and high school levels and chosen one teacher from each level for induction in May.
Last year’s inductees were Traci Ingleright from Gwin Elementary in Hoover, Marva Raby from Bumpus Middle in Hoover and Ruben Mitchell from Anniston High School.
Hoover City Schools has more teachers in the Jackonsville State University Teacher Hall of Fame than any school district in the state. Hoover has had 15 teachers inducted, including four elementary teachers, nine middle school teachers and two high school teachers.
Next are Calhoun County Schools and Talladega County Schools, each with six teachers inducted into the Teacher Hall of Fame, followed by Shelby County Schools, Tuscaloosa City Schools and Tuscaloosa County Schools, each with five teachers inducted.