Robert Ballard, Keneisha Jones and others receive CHCCS Staff of the Year awards

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools hosted its annual Recognition Event on May 11 to award teachers and staff for their work and achievements throughout the school year. 

Robert Ballard won the CHCCS Teacher of the Year Award and works at Chapel Hill High School as an automotive instructor. He has taught automotive skills for the past 16 years.

“It was definitely shocking," Ballard said. "I wasn't expecting it. I mean, there are so many great teachers at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools."

Ballard said he saw this award as a much-deserved recognition for the Career and Technical Education department. 

“I don't think about it like, 'I received the award.' I feel like CTE, as a whole, received the award,” he said. "Because it takes a team."

Ballard has spent his teaching career expanding the automotive program at Chapel Hill High School. He said that when he came to the school, there were only 35 students in the automotive CTE program.

Now, Ballard said the automotive CTE program has grown, with plans to extend courses to Carrboro High School and East Chapel Hill High School students this upcoming school year.

Ballard said that his high school automotive teacher encouraged him to pursue his interests and get an automotive degree. He said he wants to serve a similar role in his students' lives.

“Even if they're not doing automotive, I like to help them out and kind of help them figure out what they want to do and then put them on that pathway so they can succeed at life,” Ballard said

Keneisha Jones received the School Support and Wellness Staff of the Year Award. 

Jones has served as a school counselor for nine years at McDougle Middle School. She said she counsels the same students throughout all three years of middle school.

“You get three years to really build a solid relationship with that child and also that family,” she said. 

 Jones said she considers her office a safe space where students can talk to her freely. 

Like Ballard, Jones found love for her job from someone else who impacted her life — her school counselor. 

“She got me through a lot of different things that were going on with family, friendships, personal things,” Jones said. 

She said she was very grateful to be nominated and receive the School Support and Wellness Staff of the Year Award. 

“It was a really great moment to actually feel like all the work and things that I tried to do for families and students was noticed and then really appreciated by the district,” Jones said. 

The event and awards were funded by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation. 

The PSF funded the cash prizes for the teachers in partnership with corporations like Pinnacle Bank, Jersey Mike’s and the Rotary Club of Chapel Hill. 

Madeline Blobe, the executive director of the PSF, said that the awards are strictly cash prizes. The teachers and staff who receive these awards do not have to use them in the classroom but can use them however they want as a gift of appreciation for all that they do. 

“They're incredible professionals, and most of them could be, you know, doing something else and making more money, but they really are passionate about the work they do and dedicated to what they do,” Blobe said. 

She also expressed her gratitude for the community that helps and supports the PSF and Chapel Hill-Carrboro public schools. 

“I'm very grateful to our community who's very generous and supports us and all these efforts," she said. "We couldn't do it without such a engaged, caring community."

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