Grand County High School English Teacher Alanna Simmons-Cameron is the 2019-20 Teacher of the Year for Grand County School District.
Alanna was nominated as Teacher of the Year by school staff and selected by the Grand County Board of Education for being “invested in her students.”
Alanna teaches Creative Writing, Journalism, 12th grade English, AP Literature and an English college class through Weber State University for Grand County High School students. Staff recognized Alanna’s dedication to education and wrote in their nominations, “She stays later than any other teacher working on her class assignments, looking into every way to help her students become their very best.”
Alanna’s co-workers said “She truly is a leader and I think she should receive the recognition she greatly deserves.”
Alanna has taught at Grand County High School for 5 years and has worked as an educator for 15. Prior to teaching at Grand County High School, Alanna was an English professor at the University of Nevada in Reno and then a gifted education teacher at The Davidson Academy of Nevada.
She was born and raised in Price and is raising her three children, Kai (2), Reef (5) and Coral (9), in Moab with her husband Joshua Cameron (the 11th grade English teacher).
Alanna said she came to Moab to teach because “I wanted to teach students like myself in rural America who had talent and hunger but not always the same level of opportunities as their urban peers. And I wanted to serve students who had many challenges that stood in the way of their success. I wanted to help them find ways to steer around, over and under those obstacles.”
Alanna said the students in Grand County are “so dang smart and curious and funny. They have character. They are fearless and fun.”
“The students are naturally great critical thinkers, and if you as a teacher respect their fierce independence and maybe even have it yourself, you as an educator will have so much fun with them,” Alanna said. “They are diverse, but they really overall support each other and are kind of this American slice of hardiness (many are working close to full-time by their senior year) and different cultures and wry humor.”
Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the district’s annual presentation and awards ceremony was cancelled. Alanna was honored on June 1 at the Grand County School District with flowers and a crystal Teacher of the Year award.