- December 23, 2024
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Matanzas High School students who are struggling — in the classroom or elsewhere — have a champion in Kay Feist.
Feist, Matanzas' 2024 Teacher of the Year and the chair of the school's guidance department, mentors troubled and struggling students individually as well as managing a carload of 400 students and directing the department.
"This has been an especially enriching role for me in the past few years as many students have been deeply impacted by recent national and world events such as devastating hurricanes and other natural disasters, the Russian-Ukrainian War, and Israel-Hamas War," she wrote in a statement for her Teacher of the Year application.
Ms. Feist has a remarkable ability to ... make each individual person before her feel like she has all of the time in the world to listen and hear their individual concern."
— KRISTIN BOZEMAN, Matanzas High School principal
Feist began her career in education in 2006 as a substitute teacher for Flagler Schools. She was hired as a teacher at Matanzas High School in 2008, teaching U.S. history world history, business and exceptional student education.
She earned a master's degree in school counseling in 2014 and became a school counselor at Matanzas. She has now been the chair of the guidance department for the past six years.
"As a school counselor with a caseload over 400 students, one can imagine the volume of emails, phone calls, meetings and other interactions that Ms. Feist has to juggle," Matanzas High School Principal Kristin Bozeman wrote in a letter of recommendation for Feist's Teacher of the Year application. "Ms. Feist has a remarkable ability to not only stay on top of and manage that workload, but to make each individual person before her feel like she has all of the time in the world to listen and hear their individual concern."
I know that one of the greatest things I can do to help students graduate is to cultivate a culture of hope."
— KAY FEIST, Matanzas High School Teacher of the Year
In the past year, Matanzas' guidance department has met with 428 Matanzas seniors individually to help plan their paths after graduation and reached almost 900 students through classroom guidance lessons, Feist wrote.
"One of my greatest joys is seeing my students, whom I have worked with since 9th grade, walk across the stage in May of their senior year to accept their diploma," she wrote. "This is an especially rewarding time when I know how much that student had to overcome to get to that wonderful and validating moment."
In her application for the Teacher of the Year award, Feist cited Matanzas' graduation rate, which exceeds state and county averages, as evidence that she helps students learn.
The school's graduation rate rose from 83.2% in 2017 to 94.3% in 2022, while the graduation rate for students with disabilities rose from 53.2% in 2017 to 94.9% in 2022.
This past year, 33 Matanzas students graduated with their associate degree, while 68 graduates earned industry certifications, and 150 students graduated with honor status.
While she celebrates the school's high graduation rate, she wrote, she realizes that it can still improve.
"I know that one of the greatest things I can do to help students graduate is to cultivate a culture of hope," she wrote. "I will continue to identify my student’s gifts, and help them understand that they are capable and have value. ... I will invest in my students because I know that when students feel cared for and appreciated, they will work hard for us and themselves."
