TEACHER: Sherry Bittinger

SCHOOL: Daphne Middle School

SUBJECT TAUGHT: Art

SOMETHING UNUSUAL ABOUT YOURSELF: I can hula hoop for a really long time. I also attended five colleges to get my degree. I finished at University of West Florida.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania native Sherry Bittinger loves animals, art and children. She has been the art teacher at Daphne Middle School for nine years and has always wanted to be an art teacher.

“I like working with kids,” Bittinger says. “I always have.” 

Bittinger’s favorite aspect of teaching is boosting children’s self-esteem.

“I use art to create that ‘can-do’ attitude,” she says. “Art is so much more than drawing. I cross spectrums of art until every student finds something they are successful at.”

Bittinger believes that public art is important. She publishes her students' artwork to Artsonia—the largest student art gallery on the web. She has posted more than 4,500 pieces of her students' work since 2007.

She has taught for 13 years at both Daphne Elementary School and now Daphne Middle School.

When Bittinger isn’t in her classroom, she works at the courtesy desk at the YMCA and has for the past 10 years. She has 15 animals at home, 14 which are rescues. She has cats, dogs, a pot-bellied pig, four donkeys and two horses. She also enjoys running, cooking and gardening.