The Hillsborough Teacher of the Year for 2008 is 50-year-old Debby Dowell, a sixth grade language arts, geography and eighth grade reading teacher at Bartels Middle School.

“She’s just one of those people who go above and beyond,” Bartels principal Maribeth Franklin said. “Debby volunteered to teach six classes and the normal work day for a teacher is five classes. She’s just really dedicated.”

At Bartels, she chaired the School Advisory Committee last year, serves as a team leader and helps to select novels for middle schools around Hillsborough. She’s a single mother with two daughters in college, and a teacher for 15 years.

“Going to work each day is not a job for me, it is my life,” she wrote in her application to be Teacher of the Year. “My students feed my soul, and I work hard each day to ensure that I give back to my students so they gain the confidence, curiosity, enthusiasm, and knowledge to succeed and become the very best individuals they can be.”

Learn more about Dowell and the other 11 finalists for Teacher of the Year: Download HEF_TOY08_Finalist_Bios.doc

(Photo: "I feel like a rock star," screams Dowell after being named the 2008-2009 Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year. Times staff photographer Melissa Lyttle)