Nashville has often been known as “the Athens of the South” for its broad array of colleges and universities. With a project spanning the 5,600 miles between the original Athens and the newer one, a
John Overton High School teacher will go to Greece next spring on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to study how schools there prepare students for college and other postsecondary opportunities.
Meredith McGinnis, a social studies teacher at Overton, recently received a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching from the State Department and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, named for the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, who founded the program after World War II. A five-month grant will cover McGinnis’s travel and research for a project titled “Profiles in Postsecondary: Stories from the U.S. and Greece.”
“I will spend time in Greece learning from local teachers, administrators and counselors as I research the ways they prepare students for postsecondary opportunities,” McGinnis said. “Helping my students with college admissions and career exploration is already central to the work I do at Overton. I look forward to learning from new, global partners to better serve our students here in MNPS.”
McGinnis started her MNPS career as a teacher at Antioch High School for three years before moving to Overton five years ago. She teaches AICE Global Perspectives and AVID I and is a leader of Overton’s College and Career Team, Cambridge international diploma program and schoolwide professional development.
She was Overton’s
Teacher of the Year for 2021-22 and is a National Board Certified Teacher.
“Meredith’s success in securing this prestigious appointment is a reflection not only of her dedication to post-secondary success for students, but of Overton’s shared commitment to build a community of learners that will help us sustain an enduring legacy of excellence,” Overton Principal Dr. Jill Pittman said. “Our entire school family looks forward to her work.”