A beloved Paton-Churdan administrator was completely surprised on Thursday when she won an award.

Principal Annie Smith was named the recipient of the Golden Apple Award, which is given to an educator who is dedicated to teaching students and making an impact on kids’ lives. Superintendent Brain Johnson said as he got to work more with Smith after he was officially hired to be the new shared superintendent this past July, and he is amazed just how passionate she is to be a P-C Rocket.

“Her focus is 100 percent kid oriented. Sometimes with some of our hard to reach students that I maybe suggest maybe some ‘tough love’ with, she doesn’t like the tough love. She is not going to give up on any kid or any adults from what I’ve experienced. She just has that true heart that is going to make the world a better place and we truly would be better off with a lot more Annie Smiths in this world.”      

Smith admitted that she truly was caught off guard when an all-school assembly was called that she hadn’t approved and the moment she found out she was the award winner, she cried happy tears. She pinpoints what has made Paton-Churdan so successful for so long.

“As blessed as I am, and proud, and excited to earn this award, we have just a building full of people that also could have this award and should have this award. We are, it’s a family and those things that we do, it’s what we do because we love kids and we love each other.”

A representative from one of the sponsors, ReMax Precision said the Golden Apple Award is decided from nominations that are submitted from anyone in the community, school staff and students.