A native of Fannin County and a graduate of Fannin County High School (FCHS) in 1987, Bubba Gibbs was recently nominated for the Engineering & Technology Education Division (eTED) of the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education (GACTE) Teacher of the Year Award.
Gibbs, who is the engineering and audio/video teacher at FCHS, was among 38 Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) educators honored by GACTE during its Summer Summit, which met July 14, at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia.
Nominated by their division peers and selected by the GACTE Awards Committee, each nominee was presented with a plaque naming them as their division’s 2021 Teacher of the Year nominee.
In addition, Gibbs and his engineering lab were recently awarded the Georgia Department of Education Industry Certification. Industry Certification is a strenuous process and puts a stamp of excellence on the FCHS engineering program.
“Teaching has been the most rewarding experience of my life. There is no better feeling than watching my engineering students earn their degrees from Georgia Tech, or listen to a student excitedly tell me about their career in welding or electrical line work. I feel that I have the opportunity to make a difference in the futures of students every single day,” said Gibbs.
Gibbs has been an educator for 15 years at FCHS. In 1992, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and in 2019 he earned a Masters degree in Adult and Career Education from Valdosta State University. Before that, Gibbs worked in countries all over the world, but came back to Blue Ridge, “Because it’s the most beautiful place to be.”