12 Years After Leaving Medical Career, Aiken County Teacher is SC Teacher of the Year

(Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette)

Teaching wasn’t Dr. Christie Palladino’s first career, but Thursday she was named South Carolina’s Teacher of the Year.

The Aiken County Career and Technology Center teacher started out as an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical researcher, but she switched to teaching 12 years ago, according to the district where she teaches.

She was selected from a group of five finalists to receive $25,000, state Superintendent Ellen Weaver announced during a Thursday ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion.

Palladino’s medical education includes a doctorate degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and OB-GYN residency completed at the University of Florida.

“I love taking care of patients,” she said in a video played for attendees. “I enjoyed my research.”

But when she started teaching, “that’s when the spark really hit,” she said.

Palladino’s biomedical sciences classes include hands-on experiments, and her students travel to public schools across Aiken County to demonstrate their skills for younger students.

Those classes take place as part of the state’s growing career and technical education program, which trains students for certificates that can sometimes land them jobs straight out of college.

By teaching hands-on skills, Palladino is “preparing her students not just for tests but for real in-demand careers and real life,” Weaver said.

Palladino’s students are often ready to go straight into the workforce, she said.

“But they don’t often walk into our classrooms feeling like they are ready to fill those jobs,” Palladino, who’s also a professor at Aiken Technical College, said during her acceptance speech. “And that is what we give them as teachers. And to me, that is the heart and soul of why we do what we do. It is serving these students.”

As Teacher of the Year, Palladino will spend the coming year traveling the state to mentor other teachers, work with high-achieving high school students who want to become educators and leading an annual education conference.

All five finalists, chosen from a pool of teachers nominated by their districts, receives $10,000 from the state. On top of her additional $15,000, Palladino will receive $2,000 from the Bojangles Foundation Fund, a BMW to drive for the coming year and tuition-free graduate-level courses from the University of South Carolina.

When working with teachers, Palladino plans to emphasize the practical part of education, she said. Although not every student will feel passionate about every class they take, every class has something to offer every student, she said.

“How do we take these wonderful things we’re teaching our students and actually show them how to use them every day?” Palladino said will be the question she asks teachers.