Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 19, 1994                   TAG: 9411020007
SECTION: NEWSFUN                    PAGE: NF3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEACHER OF THE WEEK

Eighth grade

Fleming-Ruffner Magnet Center

As a member and past officer of the Roanoke Jaycees, Eileen Tully is a firm believer in community service.

As sponsor of the Student Government Association at the Ruffner campus in Roanoke, Tully is able to teach young people about the benefits of helping others. Community service projects, such as supplying food baskets to the needy, "opens up their eyes to the community they live in," Tully said. "It's an excellent way to teach community pride."

Tully said that while the community and pupils benefit from such projects, she does, too. "It gives me a real opportunity to know my students. I know more than how they're doing in class, and they know me as a person," she said.

Tully teaches combined classes in social studies and language arts, something new in her five years of teaching. "It's the trend, and very exciting," she said.

"Ms. Tully is a good teacher, and she knows how to make her students feel like they are good people inside," said her nominator.

A Virginia Tech graduate who did her student teaching at Ruffner, Tully loves to travel.