Henrico's Top Teachers – Cristina Lynn

When Cristina Lynn got in trouble as a child, her parents knew exactly what type of punishment would get her attention: They’d forbid her from playing school.

All Lynn ever wanted to be from the age of four or five was a teacher.

“I loved going to school, loved my teachers,” she recalled. As the first person in her family to attend college, she enrolled at Longwood University, because its origins are as a teacher’s school.

Lynn, a Henrico native who attended Lakeside Elementary, Moody Middle and Our Lady of Lourdes School before moving to Hanover for high school, was hired at Shady Grove Elementary 14 years ago and has taught kindergarten there ever since.

“It was perfect,” she said of her path to her dream job. “It wound up perfect.”

Those who have seen the impact Lynn has had on her students echo those sentiments.

“It’s always easy to point out the students that have had Miss Lynn as a kindergarten teacher,” a colleague wrote in a nomination letter, “as they are typically jumping up and down and waving at her from their class line. Miss Lynn’s kinders continue their Shady Grove careers as respectful, responsible, caring and confident Cardinals. They love Shady Grove because Miss Lynn loves Shady Grove, and they believe in themselves, because Miss Lynn believes in them.”

Lynn has immersed herself in the school, serving as the K-2 PTA representative for about a dozen years, writing a grant to fund the school’s STEM lab, assisting with the Rock-A-Thon fundraiser and the Shady Grove Fun Run and filling a variety of other duties. She’s similarly invested in the lives of her students, structuring her class around an emotional relationship with each child.

"I know what sports they play, what their favorite animals are,” she said. “They see me outside of the classroom. I go and see their sporting events.

“I really take pride in being a part of the whole school community, not just the classroom. I feel like that helps them. They know that I support them at a variety of areas.”

Lynn was instrumental in helping to shape Shady Grove’s first student-led conferencing initiative, which challenged students to set and evaluate personal goals, which they then presented and explained to their parents during time previously set aside for parent-teacher conferences.

The journey of kindergartners – from timid newcomers who can’t write their names to confident five- and six-year-olds who can read and write – never gets old for Lynn.

“It’s just my dream,” she said. “I feel like it’s the year that you see the most growth. They grow into independent students. This is such a journey and it goes by so fast but they truly learn and grow.

“By the end of the year, they literally could run my classroom – some try to.”

Lynn idolized her kindergarten teacher at Lakeside Elementary, Anne Southworth (who later served as the Henrico Christmas Mother). She stayed in touch with her regularly until Southworth’s death earlier this year at 87. She’s tried to provide the same strong foundation for her students as Southworth did for her and countless others.

“I love being able to start these children’s journeys as learners and help develop them into kind and creative human beings,” Lynn said.

Her approach seems to be working.

“Miss Lynn’s classroom showers her kinders with a loving and nurturing environment that allows them to take risks, learn to love school, and see it as a welcoming place where they are able to grow,” Lynn’s colleague wrote. “Because of her gifts of time, there is not a student at Shady Grove who doesn’t know Miss Lynn.

“During the preparation for student-led conferences, Miss Lynn asked one of her students, “What’s your favorite part of school?” Without skipping a beat, he replied, “Sitting here with you.”