December 30, 2025

Two-time alumna, current doctoral student, and 2025 Muscogee County School District Teacher of the Year Amanda Zarate focuses on supporting those at risk of being overlooked.

She draws from her personal experiences as a self-described member of a marginalized group while speaking proudly of her own achievements: the first in her family to graduate from high school, the first to join the Army, the first to attend college, and the first to become a teacher.

For Zarate, making her sixth-grade son Liam and her family proud is her main motivation; according to Liam, she’s succeeding.

“She’s doing great things and she’s making me think I can do great things—like go to college and get all the degrees,” Liam said as his mom chuckled at his “all the degrees” comment.

“Even though sometimes it’s not pretty, my son gets to see me do this,” Zarate added. “I’m proud that my mom and dad get to say, ‘Hey, that’s my daughter… she’s doing this. She’s the teacher of the year, and she’s going to be Dr. Zarate.’”

A native of Kankakee, Illinois, Zarate enlisted in the Army just before her 21st birthday and served as a tank mechanic at Fort Benning during her first duty station. She is a U.S. Army veteran who served with the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment—the historic “Can Do” Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division. Her four years of active duty included a nine-month deployment to Kuwait, completing Airborne School, and she separated as an E-4P specialist.

After her time in the Army, Zarate prioritized resuming her college studies. Through online research, she decided to stay in Columbus and enrolled in Columbus State’s theatre performance program—building on the studies she began before enlisting, which also included a minor in early childhood education. Little did Zarate know how influential Brenda Ito, a longtime professor and current theatre education program coordinator in the Department of Theatre & Dance, would become, starting from her earliest days as a post-military, non-traditional student.

“Brenda has helped me the whole way—from my first days as a CSU student and well into my teaching career,” Zarate reflected. “I don’t know what she saw in me at that time, because I didn’t see it in myself.”

“Amanda had great determination and such a strong desire to learn,” Ito recalls of Amanda’s earliest days as a theatre performance student. “Even while juggling military duties and motherhood, she gave 100% in her classwork. She was a joy to have in class.”

Landing her first teaching role

Part determination by Zarate, part ongoing mentoring by Ito, Zarate graduated with her theatre performance bachelor’s degree in 2016. She returned to Illinois to be closer to her family, which includes a close-knit blended family of six brothers and six sisters. There, as a substitute teacher, she began to find her place in a world after college and military service.

“It was great,” she shared about substituting. “I loved interacting with the kids, going to different schools, choosing my own schedule. But I was also trying to figure things out along the way—that transition from both college and the military. That can be tough when at the same time you’re trying to find your place.”

As she was figuring things out, Zarate began to consider a long-term career in teaching. Her research into graduate degrees in theatre education confirmed her choice—she said teaching felt “just right.” Once again, Columbus State appeared at the top of her search results, and guided by Ito, Zarate decided to pursue a summer intensive master’s program. During those five- to six-week sessions over three summers, she entrusted Liam to her parents and made the 800-mile drive to Columbus, often crashing on the couches of her classmates—many of whom remain lifelong friends.

She followed a lead from Ito while working on her master’s and secured her first full-time teaching position as a drama teacher at the Muscogee County School District’s Wynnton Arts Academy—a K-5 fine arts public school where she still teaches today. She officially moved back to Columbus in 2017 and earned her master’s degree in 2019. Since then, she has made important contributions to theatre education by helping to write a standards-based elementary theatre curriculum and lesson plans for the Georgia Department of Education, as well as creating professional development webinars for theatre teachers across the state.

“She saw the need for easy-to-access and ready-to-use resources that were lacking,” said Wynnton Arts Academy Principal Jackie Mumpower ’99, ’09 (herself a two-time Columbus State alumna) of both Zarate’s school-based and statewide efforts. “She recently had an opportunity to share with other Georgia educators when a group of teachers came to visit Wynnton Arts Academy from another arts school in Albany. The teachers were so grateful to learn about all the resources she has created.”

Amanda Zarate (far right) with the other Wynnton Arts Academy faculty (left to right) Shari Perry, dance; Leslie Jones, art; and Rachel Potter, music

“Teaching is about challenging others—not just students in the classroom. Along the way, I realized I could help teachers too,” Zarate emphasized regarding her statewide activities. “It’s about coming out of your classroom and interacting with other teachers.... It’s about being surrounded by and supporting other teachers who are doing awesome things.”

Zarate’s dedication to helping her students and colleagues goes back to her days as a theatre performance student.

“[On the stage], you make your acting partner look good, because when they shine, you shine,” she explained. “You have to trust the people around you.”

“[At Wynnton], Ms. Zarate supports her colleagues by offering fresh ideas for instruction, and she works collaboratively with them to build a bridge between the classroom and her drama room,” Mumpower said. “She often volunteers to help colleagues outside of school, during rehearsals, practices and at academic competitions. She also shows up for them and provides support when they receive special recognitions, such as Teacher of the Year.”

Helping education to shine

Her recent selection as the 2025 Muscogee County School District’s Teacher of the Year gives Zarate (pictured with son Liam the evening of the Teacher of the Year awards ceremony) another platform to promote education, the teaching profession and her colleagues. The Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation (MEEF), which manages the annual Teacher of the Year process, narrows its top contenders from each MCSD school’s Teacher of the Year honorees. MEEF’s selection committee, comprised of Columbus business and education leaders, reviews applications to reduce the group to 10 semifinalists. The committee then interviews these semifinalists to select three finalists, who are observed in the classroom to identify the district’s top teacher for that year.

Zarate aims to advocate for students—particularly those marginalized or facing socioeconomic challenges—and for the neighborhoods where they live and learn, especially those considered most at risk. She strives to ensure full access to educational opportunities for all students in the district. Since being named Teacher of the Year in May, she has visited with students and fellow teachers at schools across the district, adopting an approach a colleague shared when she began a new teaching role.

“She told me, ‘First, I’m going to listen, then I’m going to learn, then I’m going to lead.’ I really hope that’s what I can do through this opportunity,” she said. “We don’t know what we don’t know, and we can’t make a change in education if we don’t have the difficult conversations that need to be had.”

A full-time mother and teacher—and now again a graduate student—Zarate enrolled in Columbus State’s doctoral curriculum and leadership program in 2023 and is on track to complete her Ed.D. in 2026. She sees the degree as helping her become the best teacher possible for her students while opening additional career opportunities for herself. She chose to pursue the Tier One add-on to support her P-12 career goals.

“Good leaders help students and teachers feel confident and help their schools thrive,” she said. “I’d love to stay in the classroom forever, but I don’t think that’s entirely my professional path. I’m thankful to my fellow teachers, current instructors, and doctoral classmates for encouraging me to stretch myself academically and professionally.”

She credits her classmates for providing a built-in network and sounding board as she transitioned into her doctoral studies. She has observed how her cohort’s diversity—its mix of grade-level focus, career experience and academic specialties (like hers in performing arts)—brings new perspectives to classroom discussions. She also sees how the leadership skills she developed in the military are benefiting her professional journey, and she is already considering how to incorporate her theatre performance experience into her dissertation.

“[Like in the military] everything we do [in education] revolves around a mission, or a goal,” explained Zarate (pictured during her active-duty Army service with fellow soldiers). “In this case, we are educators and lifelong learners, so we can be effective leaders as we guide students in their educational journey. If we don’t work together—if someone doesn’t do their part—then we aren’t effective, and we fail our mission. I am trying my best to do my part as an educator, because together we make change. Together we are more effective for our students.”

Zarate quickly pointed out that balancing a doctorate alongside a full-time teaching career and raising her son isn’t always as easy as she might make it seem.

“For a long time, I kept telling myself, ‘Oh, there’ll be a good time. Now’s not the right time,’” she recalls. “[My theatre studies taught me that] if it doesn’t make you nervous, it’s not worth doing. So, I’ve learned to just go for it, because there’s never going to be a ‘right’ time.”

Through her journey, Zarate has exemplified resilience and dedication, encouraging not only her son but also the next generation of educators and students to pursue their dreams.

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Main image: photo of Amanda Zarate standing in a school hallway

Media contact: Michael Tullier, APR, Executive Director of Strategic Communication + Marketing, 706.507.8729, mtullier@columbusstate.edu