DMS teacher earns Golden Apple Award

Lisa McHugh said she was “completely overwhelmed” recently when she learned that she had received WAKA-TV’s Golden Apple Award for her efforts as a special education teacher at Demopolis Middle School.

“I was going to the office and Ms. Freddie James from the office met me in the hall,” McHugh said. “She was on her way to tell me that the television station had called.”

McHugh has been teaching for eight years, and said the Montgomery station’s recognition is an honor, but her real reward comes in the classroom.

“It doesn’t feel like work to me,” she said of her daily experiences with the multi-disability students. “The class I’m teaching now is what I got into teaching for. I look forward to it every day.”

McHugh’s students range from the 6th to 12th grades. She teaches them basic social and life skills “so they can be as independent as possible,” including such tasks as basic hygiene, cooking and washing clothes.

“You learn to appreciate the little things in life,” she said of working with her students. “Some of my students are completely dependent on someone else. But we enjoy working with every student. And I couldn’t do it without my two aides. We all work hard every day, but we all enjoy what we do.”