Today we are spotlighting Mrs. Rigsbee in the Livin’ The CGS Teacher Life series. Mrs. Rigsbee has been a Grizzly for two years and works as our Reading Specialist K-12, Reading Pullout for grades three, four and five, and teacher for our sixth and seventh grade Advanced ELA elective.

Mrs. Rigsbee is a Sanford, North Carolina native, but she grew up in the Durham area. When asked how she came to be a resident of Alamance County she replied, “We moved to Alamance County because it’s in between my sister (in Greensboro), my son (in Winston-Salem), and my daughter in Wake Forest). That’s convenient for my 93-year-old mom who is a cancer patient. (My sister and I share caregiving duties.) All those are factors, but the main (and first) reason I moved here is because I was offered a job at Clover Garden!”

Clover Garden is certainly thankful for Mrs. Rigsbee and the passion she brings to all things literacy! Keep reading to learn more about this extraordinary educator.

Tell us a little bit about you and your family.

“My husband David (a retired firefighter and police detective) and I just celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We got married in 1994 with a built in family. He had two girls aged 13 and 17, and I had a girl and a boy aged 13 and 11. They all grew up and became an educator, a psychologist/NFL cheerleader, a nurse, and an actor who shows up on Law and Order reruns. Two of those kids have given us our six grandchildren, and that changed everything! We lost the only fur child we had last fall, and we don’t have the heart to try again…yet. Jazzy was a Caswell County coon dawg, and we miss her every day.”

Where did you attend college and what types of jobs have you held?

“I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Secondary English Education from UNC-Chapel Hill and went back to earn a Master’s in Education in K-12 Literacy. I currently sit on the UNC School of Education Alumni Board and am a past president. I loved UNC when I was there (still do), and my favorite memories are football and basketball games. Game day on a college campus is so much fun!”

What are your favorite hobbies, books, foods, places to vacation, etc?

“I love to read and bake when there’s time. I also love the beach and the mountains, but our vacations most often include trips to Texas to visit two of our children who live there. My stepdaughter Heather lives in Fort Worth, and my daughter Kelli lives in Dallas and is a pediatric psychologist at Dallas Children’s Hospital.”

What drives you as an educator?

“What drives me as an educator is relationships – with students, with staff, with parents. It takes all of us to make it work, and I love the communication and the comradery. I’m most proud of those relationships and love that I can still see past students on social media and watch them as adults, raising their kids and living their happiest lives. I’m proud of earning National Board Certification as well as being named North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year in 2009 and one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year that same year. I met with Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, on four separate occasions and stood in the Rose Garden when President Obama made his first presentation there. But my relationships with my students are the most important to me.

What is your best advice for students?

“I believe students can be anything they want to be. So my advice for them is to believe in themselves and do whatever it takes to make their dreams come true.”

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