Gulf School’s talents dance to the top

Ashton Lovejoy has been a giraffe, a cheetah, an elephant, and a zebra.

But that was before she became a third grade teacher at Port St. Joe Elementary School, and before she was named last week as the Gulf County Teacher of the Year.

Deborah Barnes has been a jewelry store clerk, a bank teller, and a crossing guard.

But all that was before she was chosen, as the Port St. Joe High School bookkeeper, as the district’s Employee of the Year.

It seems all roads lead to Rome.

On Dec. 12, accompanied by district staff, school board members, and members of their families, Lovejoy and Barnes were surprised by Superintendent Jim Norton as they were treated to flowers and the excitement of knowing that they had been chosen as the best of the best among district personnel.

Lovejoy was selected as the district’s top teacher among a slate that included Port St. Joe High school’s Thomas Coker, who teaches marine science and the drones program: Wewahitchka Elementary School’s Debbie Gerber, who does Pullout for Reading, a program that reaches out to students who need an extra boost; Wewahitchka High School’s Daphne Lister, who teaches world history and band; and Jonah Bidwell, an itinerant teacher in the district who serves as the liaison for the ELL (English Language Learner) students.

In Barnes’ case, she was chosen from a crew of nominees that included Port St. Joe Elementary School’s Mikki Wilson; Wewahitchka Elementary School’s Brandie Fee; Wewahitchka High School’s Shannon Jo Martin; and Joseph “Bud” Spears, from the maintenance and transportation department.

Lovejoy’s path to teaching began in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, the daughter of David and Kathie Gay, with a love for dancing, all types, that began even before she entered school and continued until she graduated. 

She would go on to earn a bachelors in elementary education from the University of South Alabama in 2000 but before entering the classroom, she decided to experience the life of a dancer.

She brought her talents to Greg Thompson Productions, and that took her everywhere from a six-week dance show in New Zealand to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania where she helped bring to life their Christmas show.

Next on her career ladder was an audition for cruise lines, beginning with Royal Carribean, that took her to Alaska and Hawaii, and then later to the pinnacle of Walt Disney, where for three years she performed in the Festival of the Lion King show, for Animal Kingdom, appearing as everything from a giraffe, to a cheetah, from an elephant to a zebra, and of course as a lion.

“That experience absolutely had a positive effect on my teaching,” she said. “In the show we would pull kids up on stage and would walk around with them full circle and shake and do a dance routine. It helped me be very relatable to kids.”

In 2007, when it became time to leave showbiz and settle down, she went back to earn her masters degree from the University of Central Florida.

Married to husband Austin, retired from the Air Force and now a civil engineer at Tyndall Air Force Base, Lovejoy had her first teaching jobs in Crestview, at Bob Sikes Elementary, and later at Eglin Air Force Base, and after that, when the family was relocated to Idaho, at the Mountain Home district in Idaho, a small town an hour south of Boise.

She taught everywhere from the first through the fourth grade for seven years, and then took nine years off to start a family, which now features three Port St. Joe elementary students, first grader Reese, third grader Kinley and fifth grader Kyle.

Last year was her first year back in the classroom after that hiatus, and now this is her second in the third grade.

And those dance years serve her well.

During the first week of school, when everyone shares in an introductory get-to-know-you session, Lovejoy brings in pictures of her Lion King years and tells them about the Disney dancing.

“Their jaws drop on the floor,” she said. “It’s a good icebreaker for the class, something fun to talk about with the class.”

For the rest of the year, Lovejoy’s focus is to successfully move through the curriculum and she can sum up her guiding steps in a single word. 

“Engaging is definitely the word,” she said. “The kids learn more and learn faster and better when they are up engaging with each other. When they are talking about text and a story, what they get from a friend helps them. 

“It helps those kids who are shy, because it’s easier to share with a friend at a table before we come back as a class,” said Lovejoy. “It’s engagement that is success for a classroom.”

Barnes’ path to her honor began in Reynolds, Georgia, where the daughter of Rosa McDaniel Cummings, of Fort Valley, Georgia, and the late Douglas McDaniel, was raised by her mom and dad before he passed away when his wife was 40 and Barnes was in her senior year of high school. Her mom would later remarry when she was 66.

Barnes began working first at a jewelry store, where as a cashier she tried her hand at watch and jewelry repair. “As the oldest of three daughters, my dad and mom believed we should be able to repair and move things. I still love to move furniture and give me a butter knife and I can put together or take apart anything,” she said.

Barnes would later become a bank teller, and in 1987 moved to Port St. Joe where she worked as a teller at First Union National Bank where she moved up to bookkeeping. From there she took a position with a law firm handling real estate loan closings and trust accounts.

In 2001, in keeping with her devotion to having both fulltime and parttime jobs,

She became a crossing guard at Port St. Joe Junior and Senior High School and then in 2018 when the bookkeeping position became available, she was hired for that.

But she still retains her love for the crossing guard job, which she kept, now going on 23 years.

She’s there every schoolday, at Madison Street and Long Avenue, in the morning from 7 to 8:25 a.m. and in the afternoon from 2:45 to 3:15 p.m. living up to her reputation as “Jazz Hands,” which she described as “an extremely high honor” which the kids have dubbed her.

“I have stopped cars to pull limbs out from under them, to tell someone they have a flat tire, pulled off plastic bags off of the front of their car engine, chased down and held dogs that got loose in the traffic (put one in my car and he ate my birthday cake) and stopped kids coming across the road fighting, or using their phones as they are walking into traffic,” she said.

“I’ve watched as bears, squirrels, snakes, frogs, turtles came out of the woods, picked up kids from bike wrecks, or took bicycles to their home or fixed the chain, and took a mom home that ran out of gas while in her pajamas,” she said.

When Norton told her of the honor, Barnes was greeted by her husband of 15 years Jerry; her daughter Evan and son-in-law Chad Clark; her daughter Karen McCroan; and her grandson Jase McCroan. Barnes’s son Eric Brumbaugh lives in Newton, Alabama, where he works as a mechanical engineer at Fort Rucker.

“I was very pleased,” she said. “It’s one thing to get an award but when your peers nominate you, that’s very cool. For them to see something in me deserving of the nomination meant a lot.”

Lovejoy shared the same appreciation for her selection. 

“I was shocked and honored and never would have imagined it would happen my second year here,” she said. “I was very grateful; it was a wonderful surprise.”

Norton promised there is more to come.

“We look forward to celebrating their accomplishments further in the months to come,” he said. “These individuals embody the dedication, passion, and excellence that make Gulf District Schools a leader in education…a place where excellence is not only expected but achieved.”