Sophia Academy  fifth-grade teacher Felice Atkinson is a recipient of the National Association of Special Education Teachers’ “Outstanding Special Education Teacher Award.”

According to the Atlanta school’s founding director Marie Corrigan, she “is a talented and involved teacher who seeks to engage the students in an ongoing variety of multi-sensory methods and is innovative in all her lessons—and a lesson using bubble gum in science might double as mouth muscle toning while chewing it. She knows her students well and continually challenges them, communicating all the time about how to do something well, and revaluating. Furthermore, we offer many extracurricular activities, and she continuously encourages students to try out for basketball, join the select chorus or enlist for summer programs.” Atkinson has taught for 16 years and worked as a guidance counselor previously.

In other news, the school also received the NASET School of Excellence award this year, for the second time. The National Association of Special Education Teachers group requires Schools of Excellence to have a small student-teacher ratio, be dedicated to serving individual needs of students and have a variety of services for remediation among other requirements.

Sophia Academy is a Marist-sponsored school providing personalized education tailored to meet student needs in a faith-based environment for grades PreK through high school.