Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1510185
88 maconmagazine.com | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2023 Macon native Kimberly Barton was named Bibb County School District's 2023 Teacher of the Year. A er graduating from Southwest High School, then Fort Valley State University, she briefly moved to Dallas, Texas, to work in insurance before deciding she was called to give back to her hometown as an educator. Now in her seventh year of teaching fourth grade at Vineville Academy of the Arts, a mother of two- and four-year-old boys, and a cheerleading coach, Barton makes her classroom a welcoming space by "leading with love." Heroes among us Kimberly Barton, Bibb County School District Teacher of the Year, Vineville Academy of the Arts PHOTOS BY MATT ODOM | INTERVIEWED BY MACON MAGAZINE STAFF You are a Bibb County School District graduate. What does it mean to you to be at Vineville Academy and teach in the school system you grew up in? It means everything to me. That's been a driving force since I came back home. I wanted to be in Macon, and everybody asked me, "Why not move to another district or Atlanta?" And I was like, "No, I want to go home. I want to teach where I started because it's important to me to give back to the community where I got everything I needed to succeed." I wanted to show our students that you can go off and do things you want to do, but you also have a responsibility to give back to your roots. What about your experience growing up in Macon made you want to give back to this city? I had really good teachers and coaches when I was in high school. I was a triathlete at Southwest: softball, basketball, and track. My track coach actually took me on college visits, even those that weren't for track. She drove me to the University of Georgia and Albany State to speak with softball and basketball coaches. That speaks volumes to the types of people we have in our district because she didn't have to do that; I didn't have an interest in running track in college. But she still chose to make a huge impact on me. I struggled a little bit when I got to Fort M