“Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.” – Rita Pierson
This saying inspires Merryville High School teacher Alanna Cornes, who believes that an educator’s primary task is to foster student success by inspiring students, colleagues, and parents to work toward that common goal together.
For Cornes, student success does not start or stop with test scores and grades.
She measures success by the light in a student’s eyes when he or she understands a piece of poetry; in the way a student writes about a hometown veteran; when she sees a student high-fiving another because they understood an allusion or got a joke in Shakespeare. She measures success when a student shares a college acceptance letter or proudly asks her to attend their military oath-taking.
“I measure success with each child in different ways,” she says, “because each of my kids is unique. They are not a test score. They are not numbers. They are mine. They matter.”
Cornes teaches because she sees education as a type of mission work - a way to serve others and to help them develop and nurture their talents so that they can enrich the communities in which they live and work.
“It is our job as teachers and educators to help the children in our care become well-rounded, functional citizens who use their unique talents and innate gifts to shape a better world for those around them,” she explained, “including us.”
Cornes is the 2021-2022 Beauregard Parish High School Teacher of the Year. She currently teaches English and Spanish at Merryville High School, where she has been teaching since 2018. She previously taught English 7-10, Technical Writing, and Speech at MHS from 2006-2009.
She has also taught English (Pre-AP, AP, and Dual Enrollment), Speech, Debate, ESL, Creative Writing, US History, World History, Social Studies, Spanish, World Geography, Newspaper, Yearbook, Broadcast Journalism, GT, and Special Education in both Texas and Louisiana.
She has been an educator for 25 years, teaching in Burkeville, Colmesneil, Bridge City, Newton, and Kirbyville, TX, in addition to Merryville High School. She is also an Adjunct Instructor of English for McNeese State University and Angelina College, an Adjunct Instructor of English and Education for Lamar University, and an Instructor for the Department of English and Communications at Stephen F. Austin State University.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and history, with minors in anthropology, linguistics, Spanish, and US/Latin American Relations from Texas A & M University; a Master of Education in Secondary Education Curriculum and Instruction from Stephen F. Austin University; a Master of Education in Educational Administration and Leadership from Lamar University; and Masters of Arts degrees in both English Literature and Linguistics from Northwestern State University.
She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership from Lamar University. She holds Post-Graduate Certificates in TESOL and as an Educational Diagnostician from Northwestern State University; in School Superintendency from the University of Texas; and in School Principalship from Lamar University.
She holds certification in Texas as Superintendent, Principal, Teacher 6-12 English and ELA, History, Special Education, GT, and ESL. She holds Louisiana certifications in 6-12 English, 6-12 Social Studies, and 6-12 ESL. She is also a Certified Online Instructor in Google, Moodle, Blackboard, TK20, D2L, and Canvas electronic learning platforms. She is a certified adult education instructor.
Cornes is the founder and chairperson of the #RileyStrong Foundation for Congenital Heart Defects and Adolescent Stroke/Heart Health Awareness, created in memory of her oldest son, Riley, who passed away due to an undiagnosed congenital heart defect in 2019 at the age of 18.
She was appointed by the Governor as a member of the Texas Veterans Commission Communication Committee from 2018-2020. She was named as a 2017 and 2018 HumanitiesTexas Teacher of the Year nominee, a 2017 and 2018 HEB Excellence in Education State Semi-Finalist, a 2017 and 2018 HEB TOP 40 Secondary Educators in Texas, was awarded the 2012 National Wayne A. Reaud Excellence in Education prize, and was the 2006 MHS Teacher of the Year. She was also awarded the 2018 HumanitiesTexas grant for innovations in teaching Shakespeare to rural students using interactive technology.
Her favorite thing about teaching is the ‘I get it!’ look on students’ faces when they make a connection about what they are reading, writing, and discussing in the classroom to their own lives and experiences.
Her advice to new teachers is to build positive relationships within the school family and with students. She suggests that they prepare for anything and everything, implement positive classroom management, give themselves grace, and celebrate the small things.
“Our task as educators,” she concludes, “is to build productive, vibrant, thoughtful, articulate, educated citizens of the world.”
This is no small task, but Alanna Cornes steps up the challenge every day in her classroom.
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