Editor's Note: This is the third in a series on the Aiken County School District's five finalists for the District Teacher of the Year award - all of them selected from the school-based teachers of the year. Today's article features Jeremy Rinder, a Hammond Hill Elementary School teacher. The finalists will comprise the Honor Court and will become among the leaders of a Districtwide Teacher Forum. The winner will be announced at a banquet on Monday.
Four teacher of the year finalists received surprises last month when Aiken County Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt told them in person they had been selected.
A fifth finalist, Hammond Hill Elementary School teacher Jeremy Rinder, was just as stunned when he heard about the decision from afar. He had traveled that day to Newberry College, his alma mater, where he had given a presentation to 150 senior education majors from Newberry, Presbyterian College and Lander University. Last fall, Newberry named him to a new hall of fame - in his case, for graduates with less than five years of teaching experience.
During his address at the symposium, "The goal is to retain teachers and how they can be become effective educators earlier," Rinder said in an interview. Principal Janet Vaughan had nominated him for the hall of fame award, and the faculty selected him as the school's teacher of the year earlier this spring.
Rinder's fifth-graders call him a great teacher, but added that he is also funny and a little crazy. He plays the guitar and sings stories about his history topics, but "He sings very badly," student Dylan King said last fall. Rinder laughed, conceding it's true.
He grew up in Jackson - attending Redcliffe Elementary School and Jackson Middle School before graduating from Silver Bluff High as the salutatorian. He started thinking about a career as an educator his senior year and followed up on that path. After finishing at Newberry, Rinder spent three years in Barnwell schools before coming to Hammond Hill last August.
"I ask my students what they expect out of their teachers," he said. "I show them how the business world works, where they say the customers are always right. Sometimes we lose sight of who our customers are."
In Vaughan's nominating letter for the Newberry award, she noted how Rinder builds a rapport with the kids, attending the community events in which they participate.
"He truly cares about his relationships with them," Vaughan said in an interview last fall. "He's a smart guy and knows how to make learning fun."
Rinder focuses on English and social studies, talking with his kids nonstop. Again last fall, he discussed Sherman's march with them, helping them relate to that significant Civil War event in history.
Rinder divided his students into four groups, giving each some Lincoln Logs to build a city. Then Rinder made a request to one of the girls, who promptly kicked the logs off the tables, effectively destroying the cities.
"The kids were angry and confused, before saying they wanted to rebuild their cities," he said. "Then they understood how the South felt."
His selection as a Teacher of the Year finalist is great, and "I'm super excited to be a part of the Honor Court and the Teacher Forum," said Rinder. "I've lived here all my life, and the community is buying into the things going on here."
Aiken Standard is highlighting the Aiken County School District's five finalists for the District Teacher of the Year award.
The winner will be announced at a banquet Monday.
Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001.