BOOM! COVER PROFILE
BB Burnett, "Gifted Teaching" This month’s cover profile is a woman who loves teaching her students how to love learning and what a blessing it has been. BB Burnett works with the Montgomery Public Schools as a QUEST teacher, which is the gifted program for MPS. In Alabama, every second grader is screened for gifted services and then the students are selected for the QUESTED program. Going forward, selected students in grades three through five can attend a once per week special three-hour class during a regular classroom day. BB is one of 10-11 QUEST teachers for MPS who not only teach these students but also must do the screening for every second grader each year. BB describes her work as a privilege, hopefully, inspiring her students to become lifelong learners. BB also loves her family, being married to her husband Roger for 43 years. Roger recently retired and is managing the challenges of Parkinson’s Disease. BB has been with him every step of the way helping to find ways to cope. Roger participates in programs at Metro Fitness and Tai Chi that have been especially beneficial. BB has a full life and when it comes to aging with a zest for Roger and BB at Montgomery Sunrise Rotary life, she’s the one! We recently Commitment to Service Award Fundraiser event spent some time with BB and had a great time getting to know her and we believe you will too.
After Mary Catherine was born, I taught preschool and my uncle strongly suggested that I pursue education as a career. After that, I completed my masters and certification in elementary education and gifted education ((which involved teaching full-time and driving to the University of Alabama on the weekends)). I have been a Gifted Specialist in Montgomery Public Schools ever since. BOOM!: You are a QUEST teacher in the Montgomery Public Schools. Would you please explain what QUEST is? When did
BOOM!: Please give us a brief biography, i.e. where you’re from, education, what brought you to the Montgomery area, did you raise your family here, schools, married, family, etc.? BB: I was born in Fayetteville, NC where my father was stationed at Fort Bragg. As an Army brat, I moved thirteen times before I finished high school! Our family moved to Montgomery when my father joined the faculty at Auburn University in Montgomery (AUM) as a professor of economics. I finished college there and met my husband, Roger. We married after he finished his MBA at AUM and passed the bar. Three years later, we had our daughter Mary Catherine. I sold real estate early in our marriage, but with high interest rates, and weekend and evening
36 BOOM!
August 2020
RiverRegionBoom.com
Roger and BB on a date at Oak Park forty five years ago
you develop an interest in being a QUEST teacher and how long have you been teaching? What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a QUEST teacher? BB with daughter, Mary Catherine at her first baby shower three years ago
hours, I did not think that line of work would be good for our marriage. I guess it was a good decision since we have been married over forty-three years now!
BB: QUEST is an acronym for the gifted program with Montgomery Public Schools. To qualify for gifted services in the Montgomery Public School system students are given an IQ test and other work samples to complete. In our state, every second grader in a public school is screened for potential gifted services, and The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine
