Alachua County named its 2024 Teacher of the Year. Here's who was chosen:

Alachua County Public Schools announced its Teacher of the Year winner Thursday evening during the annual Robert W. Hughes Teacher of the Year ceremony.

Dwynette Smith, a music teacher at Metcalfe Elementary School, was one of three finalists and was named Alachua County’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. She will represent the district in the Florida Teacher of the Year program.

“When they said my name, I really was stunned to the point of not knowing what to do for a few moments,” she said. “I'm no stranger to performing. But this is very different — when you have been selected by your peers for something this huge, all of your anxiety that you never had when you're performing just finds its way to you.”

She didn’t think she’d win, Smith said, as lately there hasn’t been many elementary school teachers chosen for Teacher of the Year. She also just didn’t feel 100% confident that she’d be chosen.

In fact, Smith is so humble, said Metcalfe Principal Christiana Robbins, that she would've turned down the original school nomination for Teacher of the Year if her peers hadn't pushed her to accept the honor.

"She's just humble that way," Robbins said. "She doesn't look at herself as just, I guess, worthy. She's just that way. You know, you have to kind of make some people accept the honor."

Robbins said the new slogan amongst teachers at the school is that Smith "put Metcalfe on the map" and that it's a source of pride for the school to have one of its teachers win districtwide.

"She's always a very positive person," Robbins said of Smith. "She's just involved not just as the music teacher, but she — if she can take on other things and help out in any other way, she's all for it. She's very ambitious, so you have to kind of reel her back in so that she won't be overwhelmed because she has a lot of plans and things like that that she'll bring to my attention."

Three finalists:Who will win? Alachua County Teacher of the Year to be announced this week

Last year's winner:Alachua County names Buchholz High's Karen Kearney 'Teacher of the Year'

A press release said that during the ceremony Smith spoke about hard times her family went through while she was in elementary school. School became her refuge, and her teachers encouraged her to excel. It was her music teacher, however, who inspired her career path.

“As I grew, I knew that I wanted to learn as much about music as I could,” said Smith in the press release. “But that all started in a classroom with a teacher who loved what she taught and showed it. That feeling of being cared for and encouraged is what I try to impart to my students in music class.”

A child of immigrants from Trinidad, Smith said cultural music surrounded her growing up. From Caribbean music to a gospel group from the West Indies, Smith said she never found music she didn’t like.

“I just had that in my system,” Smith said. “Then I went into school and met with this whole collection of really interesting teachers that I had that had different musical influences.”

Smith has taught music in private settings and public schools since 1998. She has been at Metcalfe for almost four years now and taught for six years at Buchholz High School. Her education and teaching journey has taken her across the United States, from her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, to California, Massachusetts and Florida — with some back and forth in between.

“Over the years I've tried to help the kids to see all sides of music,” Smith said. “Not just performing it and learning the theory, but also how it affects our world and how they are able to engage with it and not be afraid of it — to create their own music, to appreciate the music of others. And that's kind of what I've tried to do here at Metcalfe.”

Smith said Metcalfe is a special place. She believes the specials team at the school is one of the best in the county and provides the kids with a great experience.

Teachers at the schools nominate and vote for the schools' Teacher of the Year. There were 39 teacher honorees chosen from each of the district’s schools and each honoree received an award of $500 with the help of local donations.

The district selects a finalist from each education level: elementary, middle and high. The three finalists in the running for 2024 Teacher of the Year were elementary school finalist Smith; middle school finalist Sarah Rendek, a reading teacher at High Springs Community School, and high school finalist Jenifer Knowles, a science teacher at Professional Academies Magnet @ Loften High School.