Early Childhood Educator of Year

Teacher at AC’s Child Development Lab School named Educator of Year

June 16, 2021

Randi Warrick, who for almost 10 years now has taught 1-year-olds at the Amarillo College Child Development Lab School, has been named Educator of the Year by the Panhandle Early Childhood Educators (PECE).

“I knew I’d been nominated, which was very nice, but I was speechless when they told me I’d won,” said Warrick, who earned her associate degree in early childhood development from AC back in 2003 and has now worked in the field for a total of 21 years.

“I am truly honored. This work is my passion, not just a skill that I learned, and I think that’s the way it ought to be,” she said. “Especially with 1-year-olds, I feel like you have to be totally invested in them.”

Warrick was nominated for the award by her many PECE peers. She was formally named Educator of the Year during the PECE awards assembly and dinner on June 7 at Trinity Baptist Church in Amarillo. Patricia Keith, supervisor of AC’s Child Development Lab School, says Warrick is an especially deserving recipient of the prestigious accolade.

“Randi achieves the highest quality standards in her classroom on a daily basis,” Keith said. “She is dependable, dedicated, hard-working and a noteworthy representation of what all early childhood educators should strive to be.

“She has been an invaluable asset to the Lab School team at Amarillo College for almost 10 years and is very highly deserving of this award.”

The AC Lab School is designed to meet the educational developmental needs of young children 3 months to 5 years of age. In doing so, it additionally serves as a primary educational resource for AC Education Department students and community members on child-development educational pathways, primarily through observation hours offered therein.

PECE seeks to provide dynamic professional development, networking opportunities and local support to more than 700 childcare directors, teachers and caregivers located throughout the top 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle – promoting high-quality education and care for the youngest learners.