(CARTHAGE, NC) Many teachers go beyond the call of duty to help their students, but Kathy Wright of Moore County's Pinckney Academy is working to benefit students far beyond her own classroom. While teaching computer engineering and network technology, she has established herself as a leader among technology teachers, and made a name for Pinckney among state student organizations.

Kathy Wright, far right, is a QTL Master Instructor in addition to the many other hats she wears year-round.

Teaching information technology can be a difficult task, with content that changes constantly and students who know more about some topics than their teachers. But Wright takes it in stride and says it makes her job more fun.

"No one can know everything," she says, "and there is always something I can learn from someone else.  My students teach me a great deal about things we're studying. It's very humbling. because a lot of times someone younger knows more than you do.  Kids have been experimenting with computer without fear since a very young age."

Wright says she still manages to challenge students regularly, while allowing them to do the same for her. One ways she accomplishes that is by encouraging competition with each other, and students from other schools. Last year Wright was named North Carolina 's SkillsUSA/VICA advisor of the year, largely in recognition honor of Pinckney's strong participation in the organization. Wright spends many hours coordinating and leading that participation, but says it is worth the effort.

"Student organizations like SkillsUSA allow me to allow my students to excel in an arena outside of school," she says. "We attend leadership seminars where students and advisors work together to learn more about each other and know that as parts of a group if we do our best that our whole group looks better."

Wright stages a local competition to determine which students will represent Pinckney at state and national competitions. Those local winners have performed exceptionally well at the state SkillsUSA competition the past few years. Last year Pinckney student Jordan Walsh won the state competition, and classmate Brandon Frye finished second. Walsh went on to place fifth in the country at National SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City last summer. This year Pinckney student Phillip Perry placed third at state.

"I love seeing my students getting the recognition they deserve for their good works," she says. "I also enjoy spending time with my students outside of the classroom where individual personalities can be seen.  We all grow together."

Wright is active beyond her classroom in other ways. As a Master Instructor and Regional Facilitator for The Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning, she has trained and mentored other information technology teachers in North Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas . She also helps the organization improve its programs, in which students learn computer building and repair as well as troubleshooting and networking.

"We couldn't provide the support we give to teachers in our program without the leadership of people like Kathy," says QTL's Janice Johnson . "It's just wonderful to be able to draw on the experience and expertise of classroom teachers who have worked through difficult issues and built successful programs."

Wright also teaches Cisco, a network engineering program sponsored by the world's largest network technology company. And she stays busy on the home front, with four children of her own. Still, she says finding the time to bring technology to life is invigorating. "I can just feel the neurons firing in my head."

For more information, contact Robin Fred via e-mail at or call him at 888.507.3800.