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EDITOR’S NOTE: The LaGrange Daily News is doing a Q&A with all of the teachers of the year in the Troup County School System. Today we are writing about Francee Mitchell, a math teacher at the Troup County Career Center. We asked her 20 questions, and we shortened this interview to some of our favorite responses.

Mitchell has worked in education for 39 years. Her entire teaching career has been with TCSS. This is her seventh year at TC3, but she previously spent 32 years teaching math at LaGrange High.

Mitchell has two sons and a daughter. All three graduated from LaGrange High. Her son Jay graduated from Kennesaw State and works for CoLine in Iowa as a supervisor. Her second son, Blake, is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and owns his own roofing company. Daughter Jennie is a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan and is a firefighter/EMT for Coweta County.

Q: What are your career aspirations?

A: “My only aspiration is to be the best person, teacher, mom, nana that I can possibly be.”

Q: If you weren’t a teacher, what career field would you be in?

A: “When I was I college I was the resident beautician. So I guess that would have been my next choice.”

Q:  What’s the most rewarding part about your job?

A: “Working at the Troup County Career Center is rewarding in so many ways. We have to meet our students where they are academically and then push, pull, motivate, and inspire them to complete their education. We help them see that they can do it.”

Q: What’s the most challenging part of your job?

A: “The challenging part is also the rewarding part. Figuring out where the students’ needs are then helping them through the rough parts.”

Q: What did it mean to you to be named your school’s teacher of the year?

A: “I think every teacher here at the Troup County Career Center deserves the honor of Teacher of the Year. We are a team and without each other we couldn’t do what we do.”

Q: As your students transition to the next grade or graduate in May, what is one key takeaway you hope they carry forward from their time in your class?

A: “These students have accomplished so much as they work toward graduation. I hope they take away the feeling of accomplishment that they can do anything if they just put their mind to it.”