August ACPS Student and Staff Recognitions

Beginning with this issue, ACPS Express and ACPS Insider will feature a monthly recognitions column to bring you news about the many amazing awards, recognitions and honors achieved by ACPS students and staff. Their terrific accomplishments help our school division shine and we are so proud of them!

Alexandria City High School Teacher Teresa Chavis

Teresa Chavis, a fashion marketing teacher at Alexandria City High School (ACHS), earned a well-deserved honor in being named the Virginia Association of Marketing Educators (VAME) 2022 Teacher of the Year. “To be the first African American to win is an honor and privilege,” Chavis said. “I just do this job for the students we serve,” she added. Chavis also received her 20 years of service to education award.

The VAME Teacher of the Year recognizes an association member for their dedication to marketing education, as well as to their community, school and students. As the current marketing team lead at ACHS, Chavis has taught marketing, advanced marketing economics and personal finance, as well as sports and entertainment marketing. She is currently teaching fashion marketing, advanced fashion marketing and introduction to fashion careers and is also the ACHS Fashion Club advisor. Chavis has been a VAME member for 14 years and served on its board for six years.

Chavis has a Bachelor of Science in fashion merchandising with a minor in business administration from University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She also holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Trinity Washington University. She completed a summer fashion track program at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Chavis loves fashion and teaching it to the next generation. In summing up how she feels about her VAME recognition, she quoted former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who once said, "People who end up as ‘first’ don't actually set out to be first. They set out to do something they love." 

ACHS Minnie Howard Student Jammica Reindorf

Jammica Reindorf is starting ninth grade at Alexandria City High School (ACHS) Minnie Howard Campus this fall, coming from Francis C. Hammond Middle School and William Ramsay Elementary School. She is part of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program and was selected by the AVID Eastern Division and Mid-Atlantic Southern States Area Team to be an AVID Summer Institute/Paths student speaker at the organization’s July event in Baltimore. Reindorf is the first Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) student chosen to speak at an annual AVID regional or national summer training event since the division began its partnership with AVID in 2009. “AVID is not just a four-letter acronym nor a class but a foundation to my future… I was different from my peers but I didn't exactly know how to fulfill my aspirations, and suddenly AVID came into my life," Reindorf said in addressing more than 1,700 educators at the gathering.

In addition to Reindorf’s AVID elective teachers who focus on relational capacity as a foundation, she says her mother was instrumental in making sure she had an abundance of learning opportunities after moving to the U.S. during elementary school. Growing up in Ghana and now in the U.S., Reindorf says her mother always insisted that she sharpen her skills. Over time, Reindorf recognized that she had become academically more independent and that her mom was looking out for her best interests. Reindorf added, “Doing AVID work and meeting AVID standards was easy because I understand the importance of doing hard work.”

Thirty-eight ACPS AVID educators and leaders celebrated with Reindorf during the July luncheon, along with her mother and sister who traveled to Baltimore with the AVID team.