Sunday, February 9, 2025

Myrtle Grove teacher nominated for state award 

Sixth-grade teacher Madison Ayers is in the running for the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) 2024 Empower NC Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. (Courtesy photo)

WILMINGTON — A New Hanover county school teacher is in the running for the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) 2024 Empower NC Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. 

Madison Ayers is a sixth grade English and social studies teacher at Myrtle Grove Middle School. In her second year of teaching, Ayers was selected as a district nominee for the award in September of 2023. 

The principal of Myrtle Grove Elementary, Cyndi Bliss, states that Ayers’ “is the model of what we want future teachers to be.” Her students describe her as a teacher who gets to know everyone and that makes learning fun. 

As a nominee, Ayers will join 27 other nominees in Cullowhee, N.C., for a week of professional and leadership development. At the end of the week, a panel of judges will choose a runner-up and a winner. The runner-up will be given a $2,000 prize. 

The main winner of the award will be initiated as the NCCAT 2024 Beginning Teacher of the Year, receive a $5,000  prize, and instruction supply funding for their school.  

The NCCAT Beginning Teacher of the Year process was developed to honor beginning teachers that show promising evidence of unwavering dedication and who have made an impact on their community and students. 


Tips or comments? Email info@localdailymedia.com.

Support local, independent journalism through a monthly subscription or consider signing up for our free newsletter, Wilmington Wire, to get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.

Shea Carver
Shea Carver
Shea Carver is the editor in chief at Port City Daily. A UNCW alumna, Shea worked in the print media business in Wilmington for 22 years before joining the PCD team in October 2020. She specializes in arts coverage — music, film, literature, theatre — the dining scene, and can often be tapped on where to go, what to do and who to see in Wilmington. When she isn’t hanging with her pup, Shadow Wolf, tending the garden or spinning vinyl, she’s attending concerts and live theater.

Related Articles