By Sophia Bullard and Kayla Brown

Everyone has a favorite teacher, and their reasons why. They always have qualities that most other teachers don’t present as vibrantly. This week, we chose a teacher that everyone can agree is kind, cares about her students, and never seems to have an unhappy day. She stays positive and productive no matter what, which is what makes her this week’s teacher of the week. The one, the only; Mrs, Ashley Benoit!

Mrs. Benoit is an English teacher at Cape Fear. This will be her second year here, after previously teaching at South View High School. She teaches English 3 and English 3 honors this semester. This is her first year teaching English 3, and next semester she will be teaching two English 1 classes in addition to English 3.

“She’s just a really caring teacher, she wants everyone to succeed. I love the way she teaches, and the way she really cares about her students’ mental health,” former student Alyssa Osornio says. 

We’ve interviewed her and asked her questions about what she’s like in and outside of the classroom. Let’s get to know her personally a little better:

Mrs. Benoit’s parents were in the military, so she moved around quite a bit when she was younger. She went to middle school at South View, and graduated from high school in Alaska.

“I was inspired to be an English teacher because I had a really phenomenal English teacher,” she explained. 

Benoit graduated from UNCP, eight years after transferring from Coastal Carolina University. She is married with 4 daughters, Annabelle, Catherine, Eleanor, and Lucy, all in middle and elementary school. 

“My favorite part [of my job] is hearing different perspectives than I would think. My favorite thing about being in school was talking to other people that had different perspectives, but now my job is to listen and push people to be open to those perspectives. So getting them to enjoy diving in, and letting themselves be a part of the text is really exciting,” said Benoit. 

Outside of her world of English teaching, Mrs. Benoit enjoys the more simple things during her favorite season, the fall. She loves the foggy mornings and falling leaves. “It’s spooky and reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe,” said Benoit 

She loves to visit coffee shops and sit down and read. One book that she treasures the most is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. She mentioned that this book was inspiring to her because it “showed her a world greater than she ever knew.” 

She was really inspired to be who she is today, by her love of books and her love for her favorite high school teacher. This inspiration led others to view her in this light as well, being seen as a caring and joyful teacher by everyone she meets. 

 “She cares about how her students learn. She treats her students like family, she makes them feel important, and understood,” student Chrislen McDonald describes. 

There you have it, this week’s Teacher of the Week, Mrs. Benoit! Come back next week to meet another extraordinary teacher from Cape Fear High School, go Colts!