91视频

January 10, 2019

91视频 English instructor Ginny Leonard is the recipient of this year鈥檚 Humanities Teacher Award.

鈥淕inny is an excellent instructor and is well deserving of the award,鈥� EMCC Associate Dean of Instruction Gina Thompson said. 鈥淪he is always looking for ways to improve so her students get the best experience possible in her classroom.鈥�

Each year the Mississippi Humanities Council presents the award to humanities faculty at each of the state鈥檚 colleges and universities. The recipients will be recognized April 5 at the Mississippi Humanity Council鈥檚 annual Public Humanities Awards ceremony at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson.

Humanities Teacher of the Year Award recipients are nominated each year by their respective institutions鈥� presidents or department deans. Recipient receives a $400 cash award.

Each recipient of the Humanities Teacher Award is required to prepare and deliver a public lecture. Leonard鈥檚 lecture will be Thursday, March 21, at 3 p.m. in the Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence in Seminar Room 134.  The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend, as are the college鈥檚 students, faculty and staff. A reception will follow.

Leonard鈥檚 lecture, titled 鈥淟iterature in Relief: Healing the Human Spirit鈥� will focus on the healing aspect of the written word.

Leonard teaches English Composition I and II and Intermediate English and has also taught literature courses in the past. She first began work at EMCC in 2006 as a part time Adult Basic Education instructor shortly before Sara Lee Corporation closed its Bryan Foods plant in West Point, helping students prepare for the high school equivalency and ACT tests.

鈥淎fter Bryan Foods closed, we had a huge influx of people, many of whom did not have basic literacy skills,鈥� Leonard said. 鈥淢any of them had dropped out of high school to work at the plant making $20 an hour. They thought it was going to last forever. It was a very trying job but rewarding as well.鈥�

It was during that period as an ABE instructor that Leonard experienced one of her most memorable moments as an educator, which was precipitated by her introduction to 鈥淢r. Sam,鈥� an illiterate gentlemen she guessed at the time to be in his 70s. Mr. Sam had been attending EMCC for a couple of years prior to Leonard鈥檚 arrival with a goal of earning his GED.  

鈥淗e had gotten to the point where he realized he was not going to be able to earn his GED but he really wanted to learn to read,鈥� Leonard said.

Mr. Sam鈥檚 desire was to not only to learn to read but to complete a book from cover to cover. She and Mr. Sam began what turned out to be a long, arduous task of reading John Grogan鈥檚 鈥淢arley & Me: Life and Love with the World鈥檚 Worst Dog.鈥�

鈥淚 would read two sentences and Mr. Sam would read two sentences,鈥� Leonard said. 鈥淚t probably took us a year.鈥�

The day they were slated to finish the book, Leonard had arranged a surprise reception for Mr. Sam that was attended by then EMCC President Dr. Rick Young.

鈥淎s we finished the book, Mr. Sam and I were both boohooing,鈥� Leonard said. 鈥淲e opened a door and there was the president of the college.鈥�

But it was what Mr. Sam told Leonard afterward that left an indelible imprint. A divorcee whose children were grown and had moved away, Mr. Sam had no one at home.

鈥淗e pulled me aside after the reception and said, 鈥楳iss Ginny, I want you to know how much this means to me. Now when I go home at night and am tired of watching television, I don鈥檛 have to be alone. I can read now.鈥�

鈥淗e couldn鈥檛 even be in close contact with his faith because he couldn鈥檛 read his Bible and that was important to him. Now he could. That was pretty profound for me. It still is.鈥�

Leonard discovered the power of books at an early age. Her family was not particularly well off and did not travel much but she found she could experience the world through the writings of others.

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 go to Italy but I could read about it,鈥� Leonard said. 鈥淭hrough reading you learn about human beings and how we all behave and how we all react simply by being exposed to different things.鈥�

Her interest in the insights books provided about the shared human experience proved, in part, to be the impetus for her pursuit of advanced degrees in English. A Booneville High School graduate, Leonard earned an associate鈥檚 degree from Itawamba Community College and graduated from the Mississippi University for Women in 2004 with a major in English and a minor in secondary education.

She earned a master鈥檚 degree in English (literature) from Mississippi State University in 2007. In 2011, Leonard began teaching fulltime at EMCC.

She resides in Columbus with her husband of nine years, Wade Leonard; their two sons, Mark and David; and an extended family that consists of five cats and a dog.