Birmingham's Aubrey Bennett named finalist for Alabama Teacher of the Year
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A teacher at Carver High School in Birmingham is one of several finalists for Alabama Teacher of the Year.
Aubrey Bennett, who has taught U.S. government, economics and AP African-American History for the past 11 years, is among a handful of teachers across the state who is up for the annual honor.
'We are thrilled to have Mr. Bennett in Birmingham City Schools,' BCS Superintendent Mark Sullivan said in a statement. 'He is a dedicated and compassionate educator who always puts his students first.'
In addition to his work as a teacher, Bennett also serves as a Student Government Association sponsor and is the school's attendance liaison, where he works to cut down on truancy in the school.
Bennett, who was named BCS' Secondary Teacher of the Year last year, has been a teacher for 17 years.
If he wins, Bennett will represent the state in the National Teacher of the Year contest.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Greater Birmingham Humane Society reaches capacity, waives adoption fees
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — The Greater Birmingham Humane Society shelter is at capacity, and they need your help to save the lives of dogs and cats. 'Definitely if they've been thinking about adopting a pet, this is the time to adopt. If they're at all interested in fostering a pet, this is absolutely the time to foster,' said Ivana Sullivan, the Chief Program Officer for the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. On Friday and Saturday, GBHS is waiving adoption fees at all their locations in hopes of finding homes for the dozens of animals they are sheltering. The only fee that will need to be paid is the $10 micro chip fee. This week the CEO of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, Allison Black Cornelius took to Facebook with an urgent plea: 'We are in a crisis here at GBHS, a major crisis, we're full, we're beyond full, and animals like Rex need a home,' she explained. Birmingham Botanical Gardens hosting 2025 Fern Expo To listen to her entire statement, click here. Ivana Sullivan, the Chief Program Officer, talked about what led to this situation: 'We've got lots of folks trying to surrender their pets, we've got lots and lots of strays in Jefferson County that are coming into the shelter for their stray holds and so we just only have so many kennels.' In her Facebook post, Cornelius mentioned that they have not had to euthanize for space in a long time, but they're having to do so now. 'It's very devastating,' Sullivan remarked when asked about this 'because you get to a point where there's just no where to put these animals.' The state of Alabama does not require pets be spayed or neutered. Sullivan said that needs to change: 'There definitely needs to be some sort of mandatory solution to this so this can stop, animals in the shelter is just not the solution, we've got to do better.' GBHS is also in need of folks to foster pets and food for dogs and cats, including wet cat food for kittens. For more information, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Researchers delve into history of Utah's ‘buffalo soldiers,' create trail recalling their presence
For perhaps the first time, Utah historians have organized much of the history surrounding the Black soldiers who served in Utah in the post-Civil War era to make sure it isn't forgotten. 'We didn't have any idea what we were getting ourselves into, and it's just mountains of information we've been able to bring to light because of this,' said Ian Wright, director of the Utah Cultural Site Stewardship Program, which is overseeing the effort. The research started in 2023 and the historians involved have created the Buffalo Soldier Heritage Trail linking several sites of note involving those first Black soldiers, known at the time as buffalo soldiers. Public events are set for Friday and Saturday at three of the sites, with signage geared to the general public to eventually be placed at the locations to promote interest in the history. 'A lot of folks know about the buffalo soldiers, but they don't usually connect them to Utah,' Wright said. Around a quarter of all African-American soldiers who served in the western United States in the period of westward U.S. settlement following the Civil War, though, came through the state, he said. As part of the initial public presentation of project findings, three simultaneous talks are scheduled for Friday at the Fort Douglas Military Museum in Salt Lake City, the Price Prehistoric Museum in Price and the Uintah County Heritage Museum in Vernal. On Saturday, driving tours will be held through three areas of note in the history of buffalo soldiers in Utah, starting in Salt Lake City, Price and Vernal. Participants must register online and organizers will send additional event details to those signing up to take part. Wright said some of the buffalo soldier history has been preserved in places like Carbon and Uintah counties and Fort Douglas, where some of the soldiers were stationed. 'But for the large part, it's kind of been overlooked a little bit here in Utah. One of our goals is to connect back into that larger story and bring this history to life, to help to safeguard that,' he said. 'The information's out there; it had just never kind of been pulled together in a way where people could see.' Two regiments of buffalo soldiers, the 24th Infantry at Fort Douglas and the 9th Calvary at Fort Duchesne, served in Utah, part of the U.S. military contingent assigned to the American West to protect settlers moving to the area. Wright said their presence was most pronounced in Utah from around 1878 to 1901. Well over 1,000 buffalo soldiers served in Utah, he estimates, with varied roles in Ford Douglas, Fort Duchesne, Carter Military Road, Gate and Nine Mile canyons, Moab, Helper, Price and Vernal, the key stops on the Buffalo Soldier Heritage Trail. While their official role was to protect settlers from attacks by the Native American population, the buffalo soldiers faced other challenges, notably discrimination from within the military ranks and from the communities they served. 'Not only is it a military story, it's an American story, it's a Western story, it's an African American story. It's just got so many neat nuances,' Wright said. Wright and his team, which operates under the umbrella of the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, have been working with the Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Cultural Foundation, based in West Valley City. Reps from the University of Utah's American West Center, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have also helped. Much of the history they've organized and unearthed is available online and in an audiobook.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Maritime mystery solved after shipwreck discovered off UK coast
A 19th century ship that sank nearly 140 years ago has been found 'frozen in time' off Britain's coast. Twenty-three crew members died when the SS Nantes sank off the coast of Cornwall in November 1888, but the whereabouts of the wreck have remained a mystery – until now. The incredible discovery was made after deep sea diver Dom Robinson found a piece of crockery amid the watery remains. Back on land, Robinson, 53, saw the broken plate bore the stamp 'Cunard Steamship Company,' which helped identify the stricken vessel through information available online. It turned out he and a team of fellow divers had been exploring the SS Nantes, which had been a 14-year-old cargo ship at the time of its demise, according to Harry Bennett, a history professor and maritime expert from the University of Plymouth. 'Nantes is one of those vessels that's been known about but has been lost for a long period of time,' he told CNN Friday. Conditions were poor that fateful day when the steam ship was hit by German sailing vessel Theodor Ruger. 'It pierces the side of the Nantes and tears a big hole into its side,' said Bennett. 'For several hours, the crew tried to save their ship using all manner of materials to try and fill the hole, including mattresses. But eventually they lose that fight and the ship goes down very rapidly.' The two boats were 'briefly locked together' before sinking, Bennett said. The collision damaged Nantes' lifeboats, which meant the crew were unable to escape. Only three people survived, including one man found at sea and two who jumped off the ship. 'The Theodor Ruger also goes down but her lifeboats are in better condition, so even though she loses a few crew members, the majority get away in lifeboats and are saved – including two guys who scrambled off the Nantes,' Bennett added. Robinson, who shared the story on his YouTube channel, told CNN the wreck was discovered at a depth of 75 meters (246 feet) in the English Channel, 30 miles south-east of Plymouth last Fall. 'When you go down on wrecks, you look for things that might identify them,' Robinson said. 'It was right at the end of my dive and I'd found nothing so was a bit despondent.' But then he saw the broken plate, which proved to be a 'massive clue towards identifying' the vessel, he said. When Robinson dived the site again earlier this year, a second plate branded with the logo was found. Together with other details of the wreck – such as its build and dimension – the plate helped confirm the ship's identity. 'Every wreck is a time capsule,' Bennett said. 'When that wreck goes down, things are frozen in time, in the mud and in the surrounding areas. We get these little insights into what life onboard must have been like. The idea that you're looking at a plate that crewmen might have had their last meal on is very, very poignant. 'We suddenly find ourselves revisiting a tragedy from 1888, of coming to terms with that kind of horror that tells us a story about life in the maritime world in the late 19th century.' Part of the motivation for deep diving on shipwrecks is the detective work, as well as the opportunity to explore final frontiers, Robinson said. 'For a normal person like myself, there is nowhere left to explore – there's no more mountains left to go to, no more continents that haven't been found. The only place where you can do something completely out of the ordinary is to go to the bottom of the sea and explore and find things and identify them,' he added. 'I get a huge buzz out of that and in the UK we are so fortunate because around our shores are probably more wrecks than anywhere else in the world. I could probably dive every day for the rest of my life on a new wreck.'
