Lakewood High and Roseboro Elementary beginning teachers and their mentors started the 2026-27 school year differently — Rooted for Success. With the help of a Simple Gifts grant they had a workshop at Cape Fear Botanical Gardens before the start of the school year, where they learned strategies for success in the classroom. Pictured are LHS teachers with Rebecca Byerly, founder of Mentally Engaged Minds, who spoke on student engagement and instructional excellence during the workshop.

Roseboro Elementary beginning teachers and mentors pose with Byerly. LHS Lead Mentor Yadiraliz Hawks, shared in a phone interview that when she was brainstorming this workshop she knew Roseboro Elementary also had a lot of beginning teachers, and wanted to be able to include them in the workshop as well. She shared that both Roseboro Elementary principal Eric Bradley, and Lakewood High principal Nathan Chabot were instrumental in making the workshop happen, and how grateful she is to them both for believing in the importance of supporting beginning teachers.

Lead mentor Yadiraliz Hawks holds the poster for her table while Rebecca Byerly facilitates group involvement during an engagement lesson as part of the workshop. In a phone interview this week, Hawks described seeing a need for beginning teachers to be better supported, which led to the development of this workshop,made possible through a Simple Gifts grant. Lakewood High School, where Hawks teaches Spanish, has the highest turnover rate of any school in Sampson County. ‘I just wanted to do something to show them we’re here and we don’t want them to leave,’ Hawks emphasized. She later added ‘it’s different, this school year is just different,’ describing the impact this workshop made on the morale of both beginning teachers and mentors alike.

Dr. Paris Jones from Fayetteville State University leads the teachers through classroom management strategies at the Rooted in Success workshop at the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens