Family has special meaning for Johnston’s Teacher of the Year

@B_Byline Name:By DANIEL KITTREDGE

@T_Basic:Cynthia Joyce, a third grade teacher at Thornton Elementary School, connects with her students and their families in ways that reach far beyond the classroom.

This week, members of the community formally honored her dedication as she was recognized as Johnston’s Teacher of the Year.

“Thank you to my Thornton family,” Joyce said after receiving congratulations from the School Committee, Superintendent Dr. Bernard DiLullo and others from the district’s administration.

A Gloucester native, Joyce first came to the Johnston Public Schools in 1999 after two years teaching special education in North Carolina. Since then, she has worked at every school in the district except Johnston High School. She has been at Thornton since 2009.

Joyce also serves on the Foster/Gloucester Regional School Committee and the local Gloucester School Committee, an experience she says provides valuable lessons to bring back to Johnston.

Thornton Principal Louise Denham nominated Joyce for the Teacher of the Year honor at the end of last school year. A committee decided among the nominees, and Joyce and the rest of the Thornton community learned she had been selected on the first day of school.

“That was overwhelming,” Joyce said.

Several of Joyce’s past and present students were on hand to see her honored during the school committee meeting at Ferri Middle School, and their words spoke powerfully to Joyce’s positive and lasting impact on many young lives.

“I was so happy,” said Lauren Azmy, a former student, of learning Joyce had won the award. “I couldn’t think of anyone else that deserved it more.”

“It was wonderful and spontaneous to be in Mrs. Joyce’s class,” said Gianmarco Calvo, who was in last year’s third grade class. “It was a joy to have her…By the time I left I loved learning.”

Family, for Joyce, has a broader meaning than it does for many others. A resident of Harmony, she and her husband Mike, who is also a teacher, and who Joyce calls “my rock,” not only have three children of their own but a pair of foster children as well. Joyce met one, Tyree, while she was teaching in North Carolina. He was seven at the time. Twelve years ago, when Tyree was 13, his family reached out to her in need of help. Joyce became his legal guardian and moved him into her home, and she said he remains “very much a part of my family.” Tyree is now in college. The second foster child was one of her husband’s students, and Joyce said he is now “thriving.”

“I say we have five boys. It’s like living in a fraternity house,” Joyce said with a laugh.

There are other examples of Joyce’s commitment. Last year, she worked with a student’s family when they became homeless, helping the student’s mother to find housing.

“I spent my weekends babysitting this former student and her 4-year-old brother so that her mother could work on finding a job,” she said. “I took this little girl to have her hair done so that she could begin to feel ‘normal’ again.”

A driving force behind Joyce’s approach has been the example of her mother, who taught for 38 years in Smithfield. She recalls that while growing up, her mother would constantly be stopped by people in the community whose lives she had touched.

“Ever since I was a little girl, that happened all the time…to this day, people come up to her,” she said. “She inspired me to want to raise the bar.”

Despite the individual accolade she received this week, Joyce said she wants her award to be seen as recognition of her peers.

“It’s so hard to put into words what teachers do,” Joyce said. “It’s very humbling…I work with such amazing teachers and staff.”

Joyce said her own approach is centered upon building real, lasting bonds with students and in being there for them in a way that goes beyond any given day’s lesson.

“What I mostly do is try to get the children to believe in themselves,” she said. “If I had to sum it up…I would say that I love and support my students.”

Denham, who introduced Joyce to the committee on Tuesday, offered high praise for the night’s honoree.

“I’m very proud to say she represents the kind of professionalism we have here in Johnston,” she said. “Everything she plans, she challenges herself to reach every single student, which is a gift to all of us.”