Three NC State alumni who received their educator preparation through the College of Education have been selected as finalists for the 2026 North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) Burroughs Wellcome Fund N.C. Beginning Teacher of the Year Award:

• Amber Autry ’24, a science teacher at Cape Fear High School in Cumberland County;
• Kennedy Elmore, an English teacher at Cox Mill High School in Cabarrus County; and
• Georgia Juhnke ’24, a science teacher at Caldwell Applied Sciences Academy in Caldwell County.

“I am so honored to have been chosen as a finalist for this award. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the amazing educators I have been surrounded by my whole life. It was their impact that sparked my passion for teaching and led me to become an educator,” Autry said. “I am so thankful for my students who are the reason I do what I do and why I love coming into the classroom each day. I am grateful to the NCCAT for this honor and recognition. It truly means the world to me, and I am so excited to continue growing and learning as an educator.”

“I love teaching, I love my students, and I am very thankful for the school I work in and the staff I work with. Being selected shows that my passion for education and teaching is recognized, and I am honored for that recognition,” Juhnke said. 

More on Autry

Autry, who was also named the Cumberland County Schools’ 2026 Beginning Teacher of the Year, originally earned her degree in elementary education but transitioned into teaching high school science when she was presented with an opportunity to follow her dream of returning to teach in her hometown.  

She credits the College of Education’s STEM-focused elementary education program with helping her make the transition to teaching biology, earth and environmental sciences, and said that lessons she learned in the program related to social-emotional learning have been applicable even at the high school level. 

“I truly believe NC State’s educator preparation program is the best possible preparation you could receive as a teacher. I reference the lessons I learned in college every day and love sharing the ideas and methods I learned with other educators,” she said.

More on Elmore

Elmore has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember, often staying up with a flashlight in an attempt to read just a few more pages every night after bedtime as a child. However, becoming an English teacher was not initially her career goal. 

But while earning her bachelor’s degree in English from the NC State College of Humanities and Social Sciences, she decided to add a concentration in secondary education from the College of Education, and said receiving the nomination for the Beginning Teacher of the Year Award affirmed she made the right choice. 

“I chose a career as an English teacher because I have a passion for reading and writing that I wanted to share with others, particularly students,” she said. “English as a whole allows for a multidisciplinary approach that other subjects did not allow for. I love being able to create collages out of magazines, posters from the perspective of characters we are reading about, addressing media literacy and the importance of citing sources, and an overall love of creating empathetic and productive citizens who can think outside of the box.”

As a high school teacher, she loves watching her students succeed, whether that be in the classroom or their extracurricular activities, and she is particularly proud to see that some of the students she taught for a semester during their senior year are now choosing to attend NC State themselves. 

Elmore’s own experience earning her licensure from the College of Education, she said, was marked by influential faculty and involved the right combination of rigor, challenge and support. 

“I felt as if my time at NC State truly pushed me to think beyond my own beliefs and biases as well as reinventing what I thought education meant,” she said. The program was far from easy, but when I walked across the stage I knew I had worked for my degree.”

More on Juhnke 

Juhnke always loved science and originally came to NC State as an engineering major and part of the Park Scholarships program. When she realized that she really wasn’t interested in her engineering courses, but loved her chemistry and biology classes, she met with Associate Teaching Professor Cyndi Edgington and Assistant Teaching Professor Matt Reynolds, who encouraged her to explore the science education program. 

“It took less than a semester in the College of Education for me to realize that was where I was supposed to be. I was confident, comfortable and overall felt a sense of peace about my decision to become an educator,” Juhnke said. 

She was particularly grateful for how Reynolds went above and beyond to help her remain on track graduate on time after changing majors and her her undergraduate internship experience with Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Gail Jones, which allowed her to participate in a summer research experience for teachers in a biomedical engineering lab and create lesson plans based on what she was learning. 

“I wouldn’t be where I am today, or the teacher I am today, without the NC State College of Education and the Park Scholarships program,” Juhnke said. “I entered the classroom confident, wanting to learn and willing to make mistakes because of the education I received. Every professor I had in the College of Education poured into me and my passion, taught me, encouraged me and mentored me throughout my time at NC State. I was molded by great and caring educators, which is exactly the type of impact I hope to have on my students.”