This year's secondary teacher of the year began teaching after 15 years of service in the military.

“After my military service, I desired to transition into teaching, a profession that would permit me the opportunity to pursue knowledge incessantly,” McKillion said. “I viewed teaching as a means to enhance my personal development and knowledge and as a means to quench my passionate desire to share with others the thirst that I have for learning and knowledge.”

McKillion has a master's degree in businesses administration and first started teaching in Baldwin County as a substitute for the school system and as an adjunct professor at Faulkner State Community College.

He was hired as a full-time business education teacher at Daphne High School in 1997, where he has taught ever since.

But in the spring of 2012, McKillion decided to apply to be Daphne High's digital resource adviser. He got the position, and he is now responsible for the deployment, collection and inventory management of more than 1,200 laptops and peripheral devices. He also conducts professional development seminars for teachers, helping them implement the use of technology into their classrooms.

McKillion also supervises the Help Desk, where students provide technical support to students, teachers and administrators who use the laptops.

He and his students even assist members of the community with technical problems when needs arise. Recently, a senior citizen decided to return to school and was enrolled in a public speaking course. She needed help using presentation software.

“I shared her request with students in my fourth block, and they were excited about the opportunity,” he said. “She came to the Help Desk, and the students provided her with a brief lesson on how to use the software and assisted her in how to prepare a presentation that she needed for her course. Watching the students help this person who could have easily been their grandmother and seeing the joy on her face helped me understand the immeasurable benefits of the digital renaissance.”

McKillion said the digital renaissance opens up opportunities for students to learn in different ways and also eliminates the digital divide among students of different socio-economic classes.

“Putting a digital device in the hands of students, whether it is laptop, iPad or some other machine that has Internet access, exposes them to unlimited information,” McKillion said. “No longer are they limited to the author of a textbook's viewpoint or even the viewpoint of their teachers. They have the ability to travel on the endless information highway known as the Internet and truly take ownership of their learning.”