Suzanne Andrews is Mountain Brook Elementary School's 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year and the Mountain Brook school district's Elementary Teacher of the Year. 

Jan. 19, 2021 — Suzanne Andrews doesn’t know what she would be doing if she didn’t teach school. After 30 years in a classroom, her passion for the profession burns as strongly as it did when she first started. 

“I still love it,” Andrews said. “I still love the kids and really love the teachers I work with. I feel like it’s a family.”

Andrews’ dedication to education hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

She has been selected as Mountain Brook Elementary School’s 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year and the Mountain Brook school district’s Elementary Teacher of the Year. Andrews will now represent Mountain Brook Schools in the Alabama Teacher of the Year program. 

“Suzanne is a strong representation of what MBE stands for...someone who leads from the heart in all they do,” MBE Principal Ashley McCombs said. “We are so proud for her to receive this recognition and to call her a Lancer.”

Andrews earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from the University of Alabama and then began her teaching career at Woodland Forest Elementary School in Tuscaloosa. She stayed there for two years before coming to MBE, where she has taught science for the past 28 years.

All but one of them have been in fifth grade. 

“I respect Mountain Brook Elementary. I love this place,” Andrews said. “I think everybody here feels like we’re not in this just for the short haul; we’re here for the long haul. We’re here to make these kids better, make ourselves better, make this community better.”

Andrews serves on a fifth-grade team that includes her husband, Bill, who teaches history and writing. The couple met at MBE and has two children, one of whom followed in their footsteps. Alexandra is a sixth-grade science teacher at Cherokee Bend Elementary. 

McCombs said that Suzanne Andrews possesses all the traits an administrator seeks in a teacher. 

“She focuses on building positive relationships, takes initiative to serve where there is a need, and has impeccable judgment and character,” McCombs said. “I am honored to work with her and impressed by the lasting impact she has on those she serves along the way.”

Andrews has risen to the many challenges posed to educators during the coronavirus pandemic. But as circumstances have changed, she has remained steadfast in her commitment to her students. 

That she was named Teacher of the Year came as an unexpected honor. 

“I teach among so many deserving and outstanding people that it’s so humbling," Andrews said. "It could have been somebody else — next door, down the hall — so I’m humbled by it.”

Teacher of the Year Overview

Name: Suzanne Andrews

Role: 5th Grade Science Teacher

Years at MBE: 28

Fun Fact: Andrews has gone to Camp Alpine for more than 25 years with MBE fifth-graders. She considers the week of camping, hiking, and spelunking to be the highlight of her school year.