Guyanese teacher Edmay Hendricks was recently bestowed with the ‘Teacher of the Year’ award in the Bahamas.
According to information reaching this newspaper, the ‘red carpet’ honour seeks to recognise the surpassing merits and exceptional contribution of outstanding teachers in their chosen area of professional interest and function. Hendricks is currently the head of the Math Department at the Charles W Saunders Baptist School, a private school in Nassau where she has taught for the past 12 years.
Hendricks, who has been teaching for some 30 years, began her career at the Anna Catherina Primary School in Guyana.
Since her arrival in the Bahamas in 1998, Hendricks was employed in the primary division of the school where she taught at the sixth grade level for the first two years. She then joined the secondary division and now teaches Math at both the junior and senior levels in grades 11 and 12. In two years, she was able to transform the less than favourable academic performance of her school at the junior national secondary school examination to a high level of passes in Math, Social and Language Arts.
When asked what she would attribute to such a remarkable achievement, Hendricks reportedly said it was her ability to simplify seemingly difficult concepts to the students. She also said she was firm in her dealings with them, disciplined and dedicated to the demands of her profession.
Hendricks is a member of the Divine Praise Baptist Church in South-eastern Nassau. She is also a single mother to two daughters Keisha and Felicia Alleyne. Keisha holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Bio-Chemistry from the College of the Bahamas and Felicia is in her final semester at Hannibal La Grange College in Missouri, USA where she is studying History and Criminal Law.
