Stormy Fortenberry, secondary teacher at Merryville High School, believes that all students can be successful if they apply themselves.
“I have high expectations for my students both for the work that they produce in my classroom and in the behaviors they exhibit,” she explained.
She lives, teaches, and coaches by this motto: Doing the right thing is always the right thing.
“I have this saying posted on a large bulletin board in the front of my classroom,” she said. “I encourage my students to do what is right and make good choices, even if they are the only ones doing it.”
“I believe that if you are going to do something,” she continued, “that you should do it to the best of your ability and do it right.” 
Fortenberry is the 2021-2022 MHS Middle School Teacher of the Year. She teaches 6th-grade Computer Literacy, 7th-grade IBCA, 8th grade Quest for Success, and High School Photography.
She has been an educator for six years. She completed her student teaching at DeRidder High School where she taught Business Computer Applications and Accounting I. She has taught at Newton ISD in Texas where she was the Business teacher and Yearbook advisor. She has been teaching at MHS for five years, including 7th grade English and 6th grade keyboarding in previous years.
In addition to her teaching duties, she is the Athletic Director, the Head Varsity and Junior High Girls Basketball Coach, and has been the Varsity Girls Track Coach for the past five years. She is also the school Webmaster, the BVP Coordinator, and the FCA advisor.
She is a Salutatorian graduate of Merryville High School. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education from McNeese State University and her Master of Education in Educational Administration from Lamar University. She has been named the 2018-2019 MHS Middle School Teacher of the Year, the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 District 4-1A Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, and the 2020-2021 Beauregard Parish Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.
Her favorite thing about teaching is watching her students grow into young adults.
“Merryville is a pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade campus,” she explained, “so I get to see my students as they grow and succeed over the years, which is very rewarding to get to watch that happen.”
Her advice to new educators is to set high expectations for their students and to hold them to those expectations. She believes that teachers should be fair and strict. She states that students do not need teachers to be their friends; they need teachers to be an adult in their lives and to hold them accountable when necessary.
Fortenberry is involved with students on many levels at the school, implementing her philosophy of integrity and accountability as students grow and learn under her tutelage.
“I teach to make a positive difference in the lives of my students,” she concluded.
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