Superintendent Barge Presents Fountain Award to Metro Atlanta teacher

MEDIA CONTACT: Matt Cardoza, GaDOE Communications Office, (404) 651-7358, mcardoza@gadoe.org
Keisha Ford-Jenrette, (404) 657-2949, kford@gadoe.org
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- Event photos can be found at the following link: https://georgiadoe.shutterfly.com/pictures/7969

Sept. 12, 2013 - State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge last week presented the Fountain Award to Debra Moore, a marketing teacher at South Forsyth High School in Cummings.

Dr. Barge surprised Ms. Moore with the Fountain Award during a school visit at South Forsyth High School. Ms. Moore teaches Advanced Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Marketing Principles. She also serves as a DECA advisor for the past 19 years.

Ms. Moore was nominated by her former student Jordan Cushman who graduated from Brigham Young University and now works at Google in business development, sales, and marketing.

In his application, Mr. Cushman said, “Mrs. Moore was my favorite and most influential teacher of my high school career. Mrs. Moore opened up the exciting world of marketing to me. Of all the things that I learned in high school, what I learned from Mrs. Moore helped me the most as I studied in business school and as I began to work in the real world. As a result of the things I learned through her business classes and the DECA club, I realized what I wanted to study in college and what I wanted to do after graduation. I remember a specific time when I was having difficulties in high school. Mrs. Moore noticed and supported me as I worked through it. I often observed that Mrs. Moore noticed when students were having difficulties with something other than school. She clearly cares about her students beyond the classroom and would regularly offer support to others as she did me. Needless to say, she had a profound influence on my life and my story. I would not be where I am now had it not been for her.”

The Fountain Award is named after Monty Fountain, a teacher and coach who helped Dr. Barge and countless others write a better story for themselves. This award was created to recognize teachers who have had a tremendous impact on the education and lives of others.

The Fountain Award is sponsored by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, a non-partisan, non-profit policy and research organization whose mission it is to improve student achievement in our state. (www.gpee.org)

Nominating a Teacher

The Georgia Department of Education will select one teacher each quarter for this award. Nominate an educator by emailing Keisha Ford-Jenrette at kford@gadoe.org.