Some people are always up to something great. Such is the case with Katherine Henderson, an eleventh-grade English teacher at West Ashley High School in Charleston, SC. In addition to her full load of professional duties chairing the English department, teaching AP English courses and teaching "Tech Prep" classes for students who want to pursue a career or an associate's degree after high school, Henderson generously divvies up her free time with a vast array of educational activities that encourage and inspire students and teachers alike.
Over the past 12 years, Henderson has developed a demanding course curriculum for all of her classes that both challenges and supports her students. With National Board Certification in adolescent and young adult English language arts and in gifted and talented students, Henderson brings a thoughtful and scholarly approach to the classroom. To spur more students into more demanding AP English classes, Henderson eliminated honors English at West Ashley, a school where 40 percent of the student body is on a free- and reduced-lunch program. With this change, AP enrollment increased from 10 to 69 students in only a few years. Following her success increasing AP enrollment, she was also selected as an AP reader by the College Board.
This past summer, Henderson garnered enough funding to provide every student at West Ashley High with a selected book for free. Add to her accomplishments a long list of published essays, active membership in the District Leadership Advisory Council and Teacher Forum and sponsorship of the school's award-winning mock trial team, and you start to understand the dedication Henderson has for her career and the lives she touches.
1993 University of South Carolina, B.A.
