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The 2004 recipient of the CVCC Excellence in Teaching Award, Amy Mitchell Bechtol has been in education for eight years, and never plans to leave.
Born in Jackson, Tenn., Bechtol, 32, originally wanted to be a clinical psychologist, but says she found her calling as a teacher when she taught a statistics class during graduate school. “I found I could make statistics interesting for the students,” says Bechtol. “That's when I knew that teaching was going to be my passion.”
After teaching at the university level, Bechtol became discouraged at what she felt was a focus on research, so she moved to the community college system. “The community college is just so much more student-focused,” explains Bechtol. “Research is important, but we can't forget to produce researchers to maintain our science.”
And Bechtol has done her share of research. She published three articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and presented her work at professional conferences around the country. |
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But her heart is in the classroom. Since joining the CVCC faculty in 2002, she not only teaches psychology, she immerses herself in every extracurricular activity she can. For example: advisor for the CVCC PTK International Honor Society, the advisory board at Connections Clubhouse in Hickory, mentor for the HOSTS program at an elementary school, Rotary International, the CVCC Globalization Committee, Library Committee and more. For the past year, she has headed the CVCC Quality Enhancement Plan, a campus-wide initiative focused on improving student learning.
However, the CVCC program closest to her heart is the annual Southwest Adventure travel/study program which she leads. She travels with students to the Southwest United States and allows them to experience the different cultures they study in class.
“Experiential education is the best way to learn,” says Bechtol. “I want to give students the chance to apply what they learn in class in the real world.” |
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Teaching—and students—are psychology instructor Amy Bechtol’s (center) passion. Immersing herself in extracurricular activities, you can always find her working with students to enrich their college experience. Here she talks with Kimberly Barnes (left) and Tammie Franklin in the CVCC Library. (Joe Young Photo)
It's a doctrine that she lives daily. “ Our job is not to teach students what to think, but how to think. They will take it from there.” T hat passion for teaching glows in her eyes when she says, “I don't ever want to be away from where people learn.” CF |
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