“Teacher of the Year” receives a new car

LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - The Lamar County School District announced their “Teacher of the Year” during a ceremony held at Temple Baptist Church Friday.

Jessica Burns was presented with the honor. Burns said she is in her 20th year of teaching and works as a second grade teacher at Longleaf Elementary School.

After the ceremony, Vardaman Honda of Hattiesburg presented Burns with a 2018 Honda Civic to drive for free for the next year.

“I heard about this but it’s very unexpected, and it’s very exciting especially on a teacher’s budget when you know you always need a new car,” said Burns. “Nobody’s going to be teacher of the year by themselves. Really, I’m teacher of the year because my champion man thought that I was...They thought less of themselves and more of me....If we were all like that, the world would be a better place.”

Burns credits her mentors as the reason she is where she is today.