Although she has only been working as a teacher for a few years, Amy Tedrick’s diverse background and love of learning, crafts and gardening have made her a hit with the students and staff at Sedona Charter School.

Tedrick had six colleagues nominate her for the Sedona Red Rocks Rotary Teacher of the Year award — all of them touting her ability to go above and beyond, as well as her strong work ethic, integrity and creativity that they said she brings to the school’s first, second and third grade classroom.

Though Tedrick admitted she doesn’t like being in the spotlight, she was happy to receive the Teacher of the Year plaque and $500.

“It is an honor to be acknowledged for Teacher of the Year,” she said. “I feel grateful that I had the opportunity to be involved in so many ways to help the school and students.”

Tedrick started helping the Montessori school and students as a volunteer when her son started. She then transitioned to a full-time position in the Lower Elementary classroom in 2016 and got her Montessori teaching certification in 2018. The next year, she stepped in as the lead teacher for the classroom’s 53 students when Katarina Houser went on maternity leave for the first few months of school — a role that Tedrick’s co-workers said she handled impressively and with grace.

Originally from Barrington, Rhode Island, Tedrick said she was a curious and mischievous child, always busy playing and exploring in her neighborhood.

“I enjoyed the social aspect of school, yet my studies in school were challenging to me,” she said. “I was always able to get through my classes, yet I was not the best student. I feel like the challenges that I had in school have helped me in relating to children who have similar challenges.”

Kristina Beachell, who leads the orchestra and strings program at Sedona Charter, relayed Tedrick’s dedi­cation to each student’s needs.

“Amy is particularly attentive toward students with special learning and behavioral needs and goes the extra mile to serve those children with patience and compassion while setting clear expec­tations,” Beachell wrote. “In observing her interac­tion with all the students, it is clear to me that Amy deeply cares about the emotional and intellec­tual well-being of each student.”

Though Tedrick dreamed of becoming a teacher when she was younger, she ended up studying Business Administration at Hofstra University in New York and spent many years in the retail field before volunteering at the school reminded her how much she loved working with kids and she pursued teaching professionally.

“What I really enjoy about working with chil­dren ages 6 to 9 is that they are enthusiastic and inquisitive,” she said. “The children come into school so excited to start their day. It is fun seeing that the children notice every­thing that the teachers do, especially when we make changes to the classroom or our schedule.”

Making changes was something that Tedrick called upon herself to do in order to provide Sedona Charter School with the most up-to-date emer­gency plans.

“In addition to her normal classroom duties, Amy leads the school’s Emergency Preparedness Committee,” Beachell wrote in her letter, adding that Tedrick “has worked diligently toward final­izing the school safety plan, providing proper first aid kits for each class­room and overseeing the organization and training of our staff by bringing in experts to lead work­shops in school shooting intervention.”

Tedrick said that after her oldest son partici­pated in an Integrated Community Solutions To Active Violence Events drill with police and fire departments, she thought about how she could implement some of the precautions at the school level.

“It became apparent to me that I needed to help facilitate an emergency plan that would help all teachers to have a plan in different scenarios,” Tedrick said. “It is hard to address some of the scenarios that could take place on our campus, yet the more the staff under­stands their role, the more the school can be prepared for any emergency.”

As far as health safety, Tedrick traveled to the school almost daily during the COVID-19 pandemic to sanitize the classroom along with books and work that the children turned in.

“When I found out that we would not be returning to school, I immediately started making packets for children to work on at home,” Tedrick said. “Our classroom then developed a website that had links to many different lessons, both online and off. We made computers available to the children. For the children that computer usage was not an option, we printed out packets as requested. We also had many children partici­pate in Literature Circles through Zoom. We tried to contact each family each week to help support them.”

Tedrick said the hardest part with the distance learning was trying to motivate kids and families remotely, as the younger ones are very used to the hands-on learning and materials available to them in the classroom.

“I am excited for the new lessons and work for the shelves that the teachers have been working on and will be implementing this fall,” she said, admitting that figuring out how to keep everyone healthy and well would be a challenge.

One option will be spending more time outside with the kids, including in the school garden, where Beachell says Tedrick can often be found.

“She also organizes our school’s Parent in the Garden program,” Beachell wrote, adding that Tedrick “spent many hours tending to the school garden herself during the pandemic, weeding and planting to assure the garden is beautiful for the students to return to in the fall.”