Sophomore Edison Sava, senior Izabella Miller and freshman Abby Edgerton watch science teacher Tavia Webley react to winning the 2026 RHS Teacher of the Year award. Webley has taught at Riverside for 27 years. Photo by Kalissa Everett
Anticipating the results and prepared to congratulate a colleague, science teacher Tavia Webley was pleasantly surprised when Riverside’s administrative team came into her room with balloons and poppers.
“It really felt good,” said Webley. “It was a nice surprise.”
In order to become Teacher of the Year (TOY), teachers must be fully-licensed, teach full-time, and be nominated by their peers.
Each year, the Riverside staff nominates colleagues, then votes for one person from a list of finalists.
This isn’t the first time Webley has won. She was also named TOY during the 2006-07 school year.
“It’s a wonderful honor,” Webley said, “It’s very humbling to be nominated by a peer, and then, for the school body of teachers, to vote and then be selected.”
Webley has been teaching for 27 years. She started her career at Green County Center High School, located in Snow Hill, NC in 1999, then joined Riverside in 2000 and never left.
Webley always wanted to be a science teacher. She received the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Scholarship and attended North Carolina Central University.
“I wanted to help students understand a concept that I thought was difficult,” said Webley.
Sometimes her work extends beyond the classroom. For example, years ago, she had a student whose parents were in a car accident and needed extensive medical care for an extended period of time. Webley and other staff members raised money by collecting change in the cafeteria.
Current students see Webley as an inspiration and someone they can turn to.
“She makes you know that she’s someone that you can go talk to,” said junior Cheyenne Clark. “Through her warm ups, she makes sure to talk to us one on one, make sure we understand.”
”She taught me to keep going, don’t get frustrated,” said junior Kaija Smith. “I will never forget her kindness, her smile.”
Science teacher Daniel Kemp considers Webley a valuable asset to the Riverside community.
“She is my department chair. She is my mentor. She is the queen of the science department!” said Kemp.
Over the years, Webley has helped Kemp, as well as other teachers, in many different ways.
“She has made it really easy to want to stay in teaching,” said Kemp. “She has done everything she could to make sure I had all the support that I needed.”
When she’s not at Riverside, Webley enjoys cooking, needlework, spending time with her family and traveling.
“Whenever our family is together, we’re gonna make it a good time,” she said.
Paris Chavis and Ja’Sona Simmons also contributed to this story.
