A North Gwinnett High School art teacher has been named the best in the Southeast.

Debi West has won the Southeastern Secondary Art Educator of the Year award from the National Art Education Association. She was selected from a pool of high school art teachers in 10 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

West has won numerous state, regional and national awards for her performance in the classroom. She’s previously been awarded the Georgia Art Educator of the Year and National Elementary Art Educator of the Year awards, and has been a finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year.

“It is an absolute honor to call myself an art educator. Art is the one class where authentic learning comes to life through projects, through experimentation, through documentation and students begin to realize their full potential — their voices matter, art matters,” West said in a Gwinnett County School District release.

West received the award at the National Art Education Association National Convention in New York on Thursday, March 2.

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