Henrico's Top Teachers

Heidi Craft had spent 15 rewarding years as an English and journalism teacher at Atlee High School, but when the Center for Communications at Varina High School sought a new director two years ago, she knew the time was right to make a change.

The move, however, quickly became bittersweet. Craft’s husband died suddenly weeks before she started the job, and their teenage daughter left to begin her college career at about the same time.

“My first year here was really difficult,” Craft recalled.

But the support of Varina teachers and students helped make the transition easier, and today Craft has the center – which accepts students from throughout the county – thriving in new ways.

The center trains students in all aspects of journalism and media. It has two computer labs for graphic design and video editing, a radio studio and a television studio, among other work areas. Students produce their own newspaper, produce and stream television shows and receive hands-on training in a variety of disciplines.

“We’re teaching the students how to be multimedia journalists,” Craft said. “They can design, write, do photography. It’s exciting to see all of that come together.”

The modern-day challenges facing budding journalists are many: balancing the desire to be quick yet accurate, thorough yet fair, well-connected yet ethical. Craft and her team of teachers focus on developing a strong foundation for their students first.

“We try to slow down and make sure the students are really learning the skill well,” she said. “We want to teach them how to be experts.”

For Craft, whose background in journalism was primarily in the written word, her new job required that she learn the broadcast side of the industry. She offered high praise both for the center’s teachers (“my team is phenomenal – I could not do what I do without the team behind me,” she said) and longtime center director Bev Lanier, whose retirement opened the position two years ago. She and Lanier communicate regularly, she said.

“It was because of Bev’s foundation that I was able to take over this role,” Craft said. “Bev has helped me and continues to help me.”

But much credit for the center’s recent successes lies with Craft.

“Not only is Ms. Craft a National Board Certified Teacher, she is one of the most creative, dedicated, patient teachers I’ve ever met,” a colleague wrote in a nomination letter. “In just one year of running the Center, she won an Emmy and began revamping the curriculum to include real-world opportunities for students to apply their communication knowledge. Her students are currently working with the Henrico Department of Emergency Management on a public relations campaign.”

That type of cross-curricular exposure and partnerships with county agencies and even other schools allows students to put to practice the skills they’ve developed in class.

“She teaches the whole student,” her colleague wrote of Craft. “She has provided students with opportunities to travel and attend national conventions. She has worked with students to create nationally recognized and award-winning publications.”

Craft’s greatest joy comes from the relationships she’s built with those students.

“I love my job because I love my kids,” she said. “They make me laugh every day. Teenagers are so much fun. I work to build relationships with them every day.

For Craft, rejoicing in the daily successes and happy moments is a way of life – more now than ever.

“I live every day with purpose.”