Jeune Provost Is St. Thomas-St. John District Teacher of the Year

Each year, the Virgin Islands Department of Education goes through the painstaking process of selecting the most outstanding teachers from the St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John districts, honoring them with the prestigious Teacher of the Year award.

This year, the St. Thomas-St. John and St. Croix superintendents selected Mrs. Juliette Heddad-Miller from St. Croix’s Lew Muckle Elementary and Mrs. Jeune Provost from St. Thomas’ Julius Sprauve School. In this article, Mrs. Jeune Provost is highlighted.

Provost says her style of teaching allows her students to take risks in learning without feeling embarrassed, and one where students can mature in an atmosphere of freedom to express different learning attributes, as not all students learn the same.

St. Thomas-St. John Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Jeune Provost

“I believe it is my responsibility to inspire students by providing a caring and stimulating environment, where they can grow, mature and take risks free of embarrassment,” Provost, a third grade teacher at the Julius Sprauve School, said. “With the use of imagination, I allow students the freedom to present what they know in the best way they know how. I enthusiastically engage students in lessons that address each child’s learning style. I am a firm believer in the theory of multiple intelligences and how those intelligences play in the development of differentiation and a student-centered approach to learning.”

Whether it’s filming public service announcements for a unit about recycling or developing a presidential campaign for lessons on government, Provost’s lessons are rigorous, hands-on and identify with a simple teaching philosophy: that every child has the ability to learn through inspiration, imagination, and a teacher’s dedication.

“My teaching style is to challenge students to question their own thinking and validate their understanding,” Provost said. “I challenge students to reach outside their comfort zones in meaningful ways.”

Bringing inspiration to the classroom, and seeing students move upwards because of it, is the most “gratifying part” of being a teacher, Provost pointed out, and added she wasn’t the only teacher in the territory with said passion, as she’s met with others boasting the same trait.

“To have been selected out of such an impressive cadre of teachers is truly an honor,” she said after the district announcement was made. “I take on this responsibility with pride and humility, and it is my hope that I can use my role as St. Thomas-St. John District Teacher of the Year to help educators in my district achieve successful, engaging, and inspiring classrooms across our beautiful islands. I am so thankful to my colleagues, but most of all to my family for their continued and unconditional support. I am truly blessed.”

And Provost’s claim has been backed up by others — including Interim St .Thomas-St. John Superintendent Dionne Wells, who declared Provost as a “young, vibrant teacher who allows her students to use their imagination and creativity while she encourages them to be problem solvers, to build lasting relationships and to set high expectations for themselves. She is definitely a teacher-leader and we are so proud of her accomplishments.”

The Virgin Islands Consortium congratulates Mrs. Provost on winning this most prestigious honor.