Avernell Lewis-Ettienne is 2024’s Teacher of the Year

PEOPLE often say when God closes a door, he opens a window, and TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Teacher of the Year 2024 Avernell Lewis-Ettienne had the bitter-sweet experience of that this year.

In addition to becoming TTUTA’s Teacher of the Year on April 24, the 47-year-old teacher at Vance River RC Primary School received the Point Fortin Borough Council Community Recognition Award for education on April 30.

Unfortunately, that recognition came just a few months after the death of her mother Agatha Lewis-Ettienne, who had been suffering from dementia which had gotten worse since the death of her father Frederick Ettienne, in 2018.

Agatha died in February, the week before Carnival and close to Lewis-Ettienne’s deadline to submit the portfolio of her work as one of five finalists for the TTUTA award. Lewis-Ettienne said she simply was not moving forward but people kept asking, “What would your mom say?” so she pushed through, gathering all the information and documentation for the award.

She said the vice president and fellow committee members of the Lake View Community Council, of which she is president, nominated her for both awards. But she did not know about the Point Fortin award until April 28, two days before the Civic Reception and Community Recognition Awards Ceremony.

Lewis-Ettienne explained she moved to La Fortune Lake View, Point Fortin in 2016 but returned to live with and care for her mother in Vance River, La Brea, during the covid19 pandemic, so she was heavily involved in both communities.

She was also involved in numerous school and church activities, and in numerous committees and activities of TTUTA on both the district and nation levels since 2007.

She recalled, at the TTUTA ceremony, while on stage waiting for the MC to read out their accomplishments, she and another finalist were chatting.

“While we were talking, they were going to announce who the winner was and she said, ‘Avernell, they called your name!’ I felt as if my legs wanted to give way.

“Memories of my mom just came rushing at me because she wasn’t there to celebrate with me. I wasn’t sure I would be able to deliver the speech I had prepared because I felt the tears just welling, but I had to keep it together.”

She said she was still adjusting to having received both awards and to people congratulating her on those achievements. But, she said the win was also one for her school, as the administration was very supportive of her initiatives and the other teachers helped her find solutions to problems.

She said she was elated, but saddened she could not share it with her parents who laid the foundation for her accomplishments.

“We didn’t always have, but they always made sure things were put in place for me.”

Lewis-Ettienne said her mother did not complete primary school because her family moved a lot, but she always ensured her daughter went to school and was involved in activities, including Brownies and Girl Guides.

She believed she developed her leadership skills that at a young age through Girl Guides as they were given many challenges which included putting on entertainment or cultural shows where she learned a lot about coordinating. That was further developed a prefect and drama student at Point Fortin College, now Point Fortin East Secondary School.

Through TTUTA and community development programmes she did MC-ing and good governance training to help.

“The discipline in all the groups, I think, helped to shape my character. Even with all these I’m still a bit hesitant when it comes to public speaking but I do it. I don’t like it but I kept being thrown in position where I had to face exactly what I feared.”

She unwillingly started reading in church from the age of 15, and encouraged by the St Joseph Catholic Church parish priest, remained a lector until 2015. She eventually began teaching vacation bible school and involved herself by organising and participating in camps, retreats, sports and other activities.

At school she was a leader in Junior Guides, and was on the hospitality, events and festival and graduation committees. She is also on the PTA executive, the school Carnival bandleader and, as a certified first aider with the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, does first aid and recording for the La Brea zonal games.

“I help with co-ordinating school trips, outings and activities including parang or Panorama. I also help with costuming, props, stage settings, directing and programmes for school competitions and concerts. Anywhere I can lend my support, I do.”

Lewis-Ettienne told Newsday her mother was her biggest supporter. She said Agatha lived a good life, embodied her faith and never had an issue or problem she did not face head on.

In fact, her mother and a nun attached to the Sacred Heart Parish in La Brea were the reasons she started teaching. Agatha wanted her daughter to become a teacher and roped the nun into encouraging her along those lines.

She recalled she had applied for the prison service when the then priest at the St Joseph Catholic Church told her he had a recommendation to go along with her teacher’s application, so she applied. She did both interviews in the same week but the Ministry of Education called first.

“I must say teaching was my calling. I didn’t choose it because I really wanted to wear that (prison’s) uniform, but I’ve enjoyed almost every day of it. It’s a joy. I don’t think I’d trade it for anything right now.

“I’m not in it for the income because we all know what that’s like, but I’m definitely in it for the outcome. I teach with love.”

And Lewis-Ettienne has been teaching with love for the past 27 years.

She said children who were not even in her class flocked to her. They offered to help her, gave her hugs as she walked along the school’s corridors, or visited to chat or eat with her at lunchtime.

“I always say, ‘Do good and good will follow you.’ I also say to my students that they need to celebrate people. There so much selfishness, we just need to give. That’s the kind of people my parents were.”

Her first appointment was as in 1996 as an OJT at Vance River RC School, then as an assistant teacher at Point Fortin RC Primary and La Brea RC Primary.

In 2001, she attended Corinth Trachers’ College, Ste Madeleine, where she got a diploma in education before returning to Vance River as an assistant teacher primary from 2003-2005. At that time she became a Teacher Primary 1, which she remains at present.

Then, in 2012 she earned a bachelor’s of education with honours in guidance and counselling from the Catholic Religious Education Development Institute.

She taught Standards Four and Five from 2006-2024. That involved a lot of Secondary Entrance Assessment preparation including doing extra revision and past papers with students early on mornings, during lunch and after school.

For a few years, she requested to be put in charge of a Standard Three class as she was stressed with the situation with her mother and did not feel she was giving her best. She has been teaching Std Three for the past year but it considering returning to her Std Four class.

“I’m very tired because I was doing all those things I continue to do in those different spaces and still had to take care of my mom. I had a caregiver for her but I would have let the person go because the care I wanted for my mom, I wasn’t getting from the person.”

But she was thankful to have the support of her significant other, her two brothers and her two communities, now of which she was particularly concerned about.

She said the residents of the Housing Development Corporation housing development of Lake View started a community garden and wanted to do more, but they were severely limited because they did not have proper infrastructure and facilities.

She said homes flood out when it rains, they have to rent tents and chairs for community gatherings, and children had to play in the roads rather then on the grounds as it was often waterlogged and overgrown.

She called for proper drainage and a community centre so the residents could better help themselves and advance their development.