Peg Hill is the newest member of the Shelby County Board of Education, and Suzanne Whigham Cheek is Shelby County’s First Year Teacher of the Year for 2002.

The administration of the oath of office to Hill and the recognition of Whigham were high points of the school board’s Aug. 8 meeting.

With her mother and father (Wylodine and Shelby County Superintendent of Education for 21 years Elvin Hill) on hand, Hill was administered the oath of office by Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Patti Smith.

Hill was appointed to serve on the board following her victory in the June primary election and the subsequent resignation of outgoing School Board member Donna Morris on July 25.

Hill, who ran as a Republican, won the primary election in June with 56 percent of the vote over Dianne Burrows’ 8 percent, Donna Morris’s 21 percent and Earl Vandigrifft’s 15 percent.

She faces no opposition in the November general election.

Upon her resignation from the board, Morris suggested that Hill be appointed to serve the remainder of her term.

Hill has 15 years teaching experience in kindergarten through eighth grades and 17 years experience in administration for grades kindergarten through 12th grades.

She has served as principal at Elvin Hill Elementary, which is named for her father, for the past seven years, retiring just this past June.

Hill holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and is an AA certified school administration education specialist.

Membership in professional organizations include the National Association of Elementary and Secondary Principals, Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools, Past President of Shelby County Elementary and Middle School Principals Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alpha Nu Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma and Leadership Shelby County participant.

Also honored at the recent school board meeting was Cheek, who completed her first year of teaching in May 2002.

Cheek, a graduate of the University of Montevallo who teaches third grade at Elvin Hill Elementary, was selected from 11 nominated first-year teachers.

Rickey Darby, elementary school instruction specialist for Shelby County Schools, read part of an essay by Cheek to the school board:

Under the heading of &uot;Mission Complete,&uot; Cheek wrote, &uot;We worked as a team, a team of a teacher and learners. Students learned that they were responsible for learning just as I was responsible for teaching. Together, we made our Mission Possible.&uot;

And as advice to a beginning teacher, she wrote, &uot;As one first year teacher to another, I would tell him or her to get rid of any ideas that teaching is a chore … A positive attitude goes along way and is extremely contagious. Always stay ahead of the game with new and innovative strategies to teach material in a way that is meaningful to your students. Create a learning environment where students are eager to come to school to be both academically and socially successful. New teachers, set you mission and complete it as I did.&uot;

In addition to the installment of Hill and the recognition of Cheek, the board hired Sandra Gallups as a career technical program area specialist and Jennifer Rosato as a special education program area specialist.

Gallups has more than 15 years teaching in career technical education. Presently she is the marketing education teacher/coordinator at Oak Mountain High School.

She has a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising and marketing from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master’s degree in vocational administration and supervision from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rosato has more than seven years experience in public education teaching special education. She holds a bachelor of science degree in special education and a master’s degree in school pyschometry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham