Theresa Mitchell Dudley, vice president of the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA), recently visited Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary School, as part of MSEA’s Read Across America’s campaign to donate 20 diverse and engaging books to school libraries across the state to encourage reading among children and teens.

Dudley was joined by Sean Heyl, president of the Education Association of Charles County (EACC) and Dedra Van Gelder, content specialist for library media for Charles County Public Schools who also read to and played the ukulele with Higdon chorus students prior to Dudley’s visit.

Dudley, who started her career in education as a substitute teacher in Prince George’s County Public Schools before becoming an elementary and middle school teacher eventually leading to her becoming active in teachers’ unions, told Amy Segars’ students she was once a fourth-grade student with ADHD who had a tumultuous home life.

Her parents had their own issues and if it wasn’t for teachers who took her under their wings and saw something in her and fostered her gifts and intelligence, she doesn’t know where she might have ended up.

Dudley read “What’s Your Name,” written and illustrated by Bethanie Deeney Murguia and reminded students that their name was an important part of who they are.

About CCPS

Charles County Public Schools provides 27,765 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 38 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Kathy Kiessling, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (students) or Nikial M. Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (employees/ adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).