The best teachers, ones that truly make a difference in the lives of their students, are rare, unique and worth their weight in gold, or at least worthy of several gold stars.

Eight of our area’s best teachers were honored recently by the Natchez-Adams School District.

Each year, schools in the district name a teacher of the year and one of those is selected as the district’s teacher of the year.

This year, Shannon Doughty, who teaches information technology at Fallin Career and Technology Center, earned top honors.

She’s a great example of someone who realizes the power of teaching.

“I could work in the IT field and make the big bucks, but I stay here and teach the students so they can make the big bucks,” she said.

That’s the sign of a good teacher, someone who isn’t doing the job because they need a job, but has made teaching a career because they love sharing what they know through teaching others.

Congratulations to Doughty and the other NASD teachers who won top honors. They each make us proud, as do the countless other worthy teachers, administrators and other school workers who didn’t receive honors this year.

Their work — shaping the minds of our youth — is among the biggest and most important roles to fill in our community. And we’re thankful for each one of them.