After four years of teaching, the salary drove Jeff Baines away from the profession, but the benefits brought him back.

It was not health insurance or being able to contribute to a 401(k) that Baines missed. Both of those things were available in the corporate world. What he could only get in the classroom was the satisfaction that he was making an impact, contributing to lives of hundreds of kids.

Greg Eans/The Daily Reflector (ENLARGE)

Teacher Jeff Baines and Casey Everette share a moment after Casey read her winning essay on Baines.

"It's very rewarding to think that you have impacted a student," Baines, 44, said. "It's the biggest kind of reward that a teacher can get."

Baines, choral music teacher for Pactolus School, received that kind of award last week when he was named the honoree in this year's "My Teacher, My Hero" writing contest, sponsored by The Daily Reflector, Best Buy and Geek Squad. Baines, a former teacher at A.G. Cox Middle School, was the subject of the winning essay written by Hope eighth-grader Casey Everette.

In her winning essay, Casey described how Baines has made personal sacrifices to provide for his students.

"Our chorus takes trips, attends concerts, and provides presentations for our community," Casey wrote. "This is personal time that Mr. Baines gives up for us.

"Mr. Baines is my hero because he is a wonderful teacher and friend, ... I hope my children have a teacher and hero like Mr. Baines.

The second-place winner of the contest was Hope Middle School eighth-grader JB Pearsall, who wrote about his former teacher, Ashley Smith, now a teacher at Eastern Elementary. The third-place winner, E.B. Aycock Middle School sixth-grader Justin Spellman, wrote about his teacher, Lori Oliver.

Winners received $125, $100 and $75 gift certificates and other prizes from Greenville's Best Buy, and Baines received a digital camera.

The contest, now in its 15th year, is designed to give middle school students a chance to honor a teacher who has made a difference in their lives. It is held in conjunction with National Teacher Appreciation Week, which is celebrated this week.

"I don't think there's anything more special than when a student says, 'I hope my child has a teacher like my teacher,'" Gigi Walter, Newspapers In Education coordinator for The Daily Reflector told Baines' students in announcing the winning essay. Casey read her winning essay aloud during a surprise visit to Baines' classroom on Thursday.

"Mr. Baines believes that everyone should have the opportunity to do what you love in your heart," she said. "... I truly believe that Mr. Baines' number one priority in life is to make his students happy by giving them opportunities."

It was Baines who gave Casey a chance to enter the writing contest, which drew more than 150 entries this year. Though he teaches music, Baines periodically gives his students writing assignments. After taking a group of students to serve a meal at the Greenville Community Shelter earlier this school year, he required each students to submit poems to describe the experience. Some were published in the newspaper's Expressions page, which showcases student writing.

"One things that's kind of important to me as an arts teacher is to try to incorporate across the curriculum," Baines said, adding that it is not unusual for him to give his classes a writing assignment every few weeks.

When Baines heard about the "My Teacher, My Hero" essay contest, he wanted his students to have a chance to win. So he asked them to write about a favorite teacher.

"I was really surprised that she (Casey) wrote her paper on me," Baines said. "I had quite a few that were turned in on other teachers at our school."

Casey's mother, Elizabeth Sherley, who teaches at Faith Christian Academy, could easily have guessed that Baines would be her daughter's choice.

"She talks about Mr. Baines all the time," Sherley said. "I was not surprised at all ... he really puts his heart into it."

Baines, who was named 2007 Wal-Mart teacher of the Year for Pitt County, said he found some of the attention to be a little disconcerting. He would rather talk about his students' accomplishments, like winning the Grand Champion Award at the recent Music Showcase Festival in Williamsburg, Va.

"It's very important to me for my kids to get noticed," he said. "I want my kids to get noticed for something good."

That is why Baines travels with students to competitions on weekends and encourages them to audition for honors chorus. To fund such endeavors, he's done everything from applying for grants to soliciting donations from individuals and corporations. Many of his students' families could not afford to pay for their children to attend these events, Baines said, and his income won't allow him to fund them all.

He took a pay cut of more than 60 percent to return to the classroom.

"I started making a lot more money doing corporate training," he said. "But after seven years of that, I realized that my real gift was teaching.

"My decision to go back to teaching, it was really because I wanted to provide opportunities to the students at Pactolus," Baines said. "I have not regretted it a single second."

Contact Kim Grizzard at 329-9578 or via e-mail at

kgrizzard@coxnc.com.