Rincon Elementary School’s Aimee Lee was named the Effingham County Teacher of the Year at the annual teacher recognition banquet, held Wednesday evening at the New Ebenezer Retreat Center.

The event was hosted by The Effingham Herald.

“We spend a lot of time looking at the things that are good about Effingham County, and there are a lot of things good,” Karen Tanksley, publisher for the Herald, said. “We’re all struggling this year, but I don’t think there is anything more important to our county than the school system, the good teachers. Because of you, you’re molding the citizens of tomorrow, and we’re very, very fortunate to have you do that, so we thank you again.”

Superintendent Randy Shearouse said he hears compliments about the teachers “all the time.”

“When I look out there and I see all our teachers of the year, I think about how much you do mean to our community,” he said. “One thing that touches me about our teachers of the year, as a principal, I used to always look at when kids came back to find certain teachers and hug them and thank them for what they had done in their life — and you can’t ever replace that.

“Thank you so much for what you do for our county and for our students.”