Jeanne Smith named Shining Star Award Winner of 2012 with Mrs. Valerie Epperson and Mrs. Julie Bloss sharing in the honor as nominees.
Mrs. Jeanne Ann Smith.
Mrs. Smith graduated from Grove High School in 1986, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in computer science and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Texas at Arlington. She stayed in Texas until 1998, working first for IBM and then Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. After moving to Northwest Arkansas, she worked for the University of Arkansas as the associate director of financial aid before entering the teaching profession at Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Arkansas. She has been teaching mathematics at Grove High School since 2001. In 2009 she obtained her National Board Certification in Mathematics, and currently teaches Algebra 2, Math Analysis, and AP Calculus AB. Mrs. Smith has been instrumental in the Grove High School robotics program working with Don Malone helping to develop the most prestigious robotics program in Oklahoma.
Valerie Epperson
Mrs. Epperson was born in Landstuhl, Germany and was raised in a military family, moving to France, Wisconsin, California, Florida, and Hawaii, before graduating from Grove High School in 1976. She attended NEO A&M and then finished her B.S. degree at Oklahoma State University in 1980. In 2005, I obtained my master’s degree from William Woods University. She and her husband Gregorye (also a GHS graduate) have 3 daughters. She has brought our chemistry lab up another level with the development of “Pre AP Chemistry” with new equipment funded by GEFFE grants.
Julie Bloss
Mrs. Bloss, a native of Grove, and now prinicipal of the early childhood center, was recently named Elementary Teacher of the Year for the State of Oklahoma. She has received numerous GEFFE grants in the past, and although we do not have her biography, we are all justly proud of her many accomplishments.