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Developing servant leaders
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vision
mission
Bluefield College alumna Beth McMillion Craig, a 1992
graduate of the BC teacher education program, is enjoying
a very successful career in teaching. But it’s the ways in which
she’s using her gifts and talents to serve students on mission
in Ethiopia that are giving her the most fulfillment in life.
A four-year student-athlete and frequent member of the
Academic Dean’s List while studying at Bluefield College,
Craig is a first grade teacher at Ecoff Elementary School in
Chester, Virginia, where she was named Teacher of the Year
in 2011 and received an REB Award from the Community
Foundation of Richmond, Virginia, for “teacher excellence”
and “inspiring classroom performance.”
“Beth is one of the most naturally gifted teachers I have
ever worked with,” said one of Craig’s co-workers at Ecoff.
“Students in her classroom believe they can achieve
anything, because their teacher believes this.”
Craig acquired that inspirational attitude, she said, in part
through the lessons she learned from professors at Bluefield
College. In addition to developing a passion to teach at
Bluefield, she said BC professors taught her how to be
professional, to have a strong work ethic, and to believe in
what she was doing. Most of all, she said, they instilled in her
a desire to use her teaching gifts in service to others.
“BC professors cared about me as a person first,” said Craig,
whose 24 years of teaching also includes stints at Dudley
Primary School in Bluefield and Falling Creek Elementary
School in Richmond. “I developed so many relationships
with them, and they made sure I knew that they cared.”
It’s that same sense of caring and servant leadership that
inspired Craig to use her teaching skills outside of
Alumna Beth McMillion Craig Uses
Teaching to Change Lives
Alumna and teacher Beth McMillion Craig provides
hope to children of Ethiopia through the teaching of
English and reading comprehension, vital skills they
need to continue to have access to schooling.