By Rita Howell

Marcia Kilpatrick, cooperative education teacher at South Panola High School, has been selected Teacher of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Career and Technical Educators.

Kilpatrick will represent the state at the ACTE Region IV Conference in Hot Springs, Ark., April 16-18.

She has taught cooperative education at SPHS since 1993. She teaches eleventh and twelfth grade students, who are required to maintain a part-time job for the school year. She observes the students on the job to monitor their progress. The Co-op curriculum includes employability skills such as workplace math, payroll, employer expectations, human relations, oral and written communication, and interview skills.

Kilpatrick belongs to the Mississippi Association of Career and Technical Educators, the Mississippi Association of Cooperative Vocational Education Teachers and the Mississippi Association of Marketing Educators.

She is an advisor for Distributive Education Clubs of America at SPHS and oversees many DECA activities, including the school’s annual beauty review, a DECA fund-raiser. The students distribute bags of treats at Halloween and host a Christmas party for handicapped children, among other community service projects.

Kilpatrick has been involved in leading vocational teacher workshops and in service faculty training. She served as the host school chair for last fall’s district meeting of the Mississippi Association of Cooperative Vocational Education Teachers.

A 1979 graduate of Mississippi State University, she holds a B.S. degree in home economics education. She earned cooperative education credentials in 1993.

She is married to John Kilpatrick, a retired SPHS English teacher. They have one daughter, Emily Cochran.

A member of Calvary Baptist Church, she is a Sunday School teacher and a member of the choir.

In the community she volunteers for the Cancer Society, belongs to the Panola County Gideon Auxiliary, and supports the work of Sav-A-Life.