When asked how receiving Florida’s Outstanding Social Studies High School Teachers of the Year award for the 2018-2019 school year, Elizabeth Lloyd replied that she was “surprised and honored because there many excellent teachers.” Ms. Lloyd is a High School Social Studies teacher here at Cypress Creek. Her unrelenting dedication to the teaching profession has been widely recognized by the District of Pasco County, warranting high praise.

Although Elizabeth Lloyd was familiar with the award, as she had a friend who won the award two years back, she was not aware of how she was picked. To her knowledge, “There is a committee at district, led by Tina Stavrou-Klem, who is in charge of all social studies at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. She and the committee, based on their knowledge, experience, and what they have seen and heard from other people, pick one teacher from each of the three levels in the entire district.” Ms. Lloyd was chosen as the high school representative for Pasco County.

Receiving this award helped Ms. Lloyd feel like “A role model for other social studies teachers” along with feeling validated for her work. For any educator, their job is, of course, to plan, organize and implement an appropriate instructional program in a learning environment that guides and encourages students to develop and fulfill their academic potential. Elizabeth Lloyd embodies the definition of going above and beyond, taking unprecedented steps of instruction to “help students enjoy the content and understand the story of history.” To Ms. Lloyd, she is just doing her job, but she has been told she is, “Creative, relatable, and always tries to make things fun.” Having a teacher that is always enthusiastic about their subject is paramount. “I just try to enjoy it, and I try to make the students enjoy the content too.” It is evident that Elizabeth Lloyd is more than just your typical social studies teacher.

There is more than just a name engraved plaque that comes with winning this award. Elizabeth Lloyd stated that “We (herself and other social studies teachers) are all going to the conference for workshops, that evening we get to attend a banquet where I am going to receive the award.” Ms. Lloyd is ecstatic about being selected for this award but seemed even more excited about the generosity shown by our Principal, Mrs. Hetzler-Nettles. “She is very generous letting not just me, but several other (Cypress Creek High School) teachers attend with me.”

Even though Ms. Lloyd has been recognized as Florida’s Outstanding Social Studies High School Teacher of the Year, she plans to continue making modifications to her instruction, in addition to keeping up what she has been doing. “I think it is important to evolve with what students need as well. From what I have done over the past years teaching history, I don’t always do the same thing, because it is important the adapt to the student’s needs. As for changes to myself, this helped build my confidence to talk more. I am not a leader or even in charge of anything on campus, but it builds my confidence to be more helpful, and to be like, yes I actually do know what I am talking about.”

From her incredible classroom environment, one would think Ms. Lloyd is usually thinking of lesson plans and how to improve in her work… that is because she is. At the chance that Elizabeth Lloyd is not coming up with new instruction, she enjoys going to the gym, playing games, watching movies and television, along with reading books; stating that the Harry Potter series is easily her favorite. Ms. Lloyd doesn’t just read fictional novels though, she also likes reading up on places that she visits along with other interesting books related to history. These include but are not limited to, Founding Brothers and Sons of Prophets. As for classroom textbooks, Ms. Lloyd thinks the ideal book is “Anything that has a lot of images, primary sources, and resources for students to interpret.

Now just because Elizabeth Lloyd has been acknowledged as an outstanding social studies teacher, that does not mean she is content. She was very adamant about making sure every student has their specific needs satisfied.  Even though that is a very tall task, if anyone could do it, it would be Ms. Lloyd. Congratulations on not just winning this award, but showing everyone that through hard work and dedication to your respected craft, you can truly have an impact on many other’s lives. In this case, the entirety of Cypress Creek Middle High School.