Natchez High teacher Nick Peterman has returned home. Or maybe it is better to say he never left.

Peterman, a 1990 graduate of Natchez High, is in his third year of teaching math at his alma mater – a job that earned him the Teacher of the Year designation for the Natchez-Adams County School District..

&uot;I was pretty excited,&uot;&160;Peterman said about winning. &uot;It’s been nice. I’m glad I was chosen.&uot;

Every year, each school in the district picks a teacher of the year from among its staff. Nominated teachers must submit a series of essay questions for review by a central office committee. The committee then picks an overall winner.

Peterman got his start in higher education at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. He also attended NLU for a short time before receiving a degree in mathematics education from Alcorn State University.

Peterman thinks he was meant to become a teacher because of his family’s background. His father, Pete Peterman, is the superintendent of the Concordia Parish School District. His mother, Leinda Peterman, also works in education for Concordia Parish schools.

&uot;I guess it’s just in my blood,&uot; he said. &uot;I listened to them talk, growing up, all the time about education.&uot;

His wife Emily would also like to teach at Natchez High one day, he said. Peterman and his wife live in Church Hill and have a 2-year-old daughter, Lindsey.

Because of his parents, people may wonder why Nick Peterman does not work for the Concordia Parish School District. He says a desire to take road independent from his parents is one of the reasons.

&uot;At the same time, I worry a lot about what’s going to happen to the school I graduated from,&uot; he said.

Peterman graduated from the Seargent S. Prentiss Drive campus during one of it’s greatest transitions. His class was the first to graduate from the school after a 1989 federal integration court order consolidated the Natchez-Adams County School District. The district went from having two high schools, North Natchez and South Natchez, to having just one — the current Natchez High School

Despite the change, Peterman does not think this had a great impact on the students. &uot;I think it was more of a problem with the parents than the students,&uot; he added.

He wishes the community would not think the school became a bad place after consolidation. &uot;There was no difference in the mood of the campus or anything,&uot; he said. &uot;It was just different in racial makeup and that was it.&uot;

At Natchez High, Peterman teaches Algebra I and ninth-grade honors geometry. Surprisingly for a math teacher, Peterman describes himself as an average math student while in high school. He hopes his teaching helps students fill some of the gaps they have in their math education.

&uot;I try not to get up there and lecture all day long and bore them to death,&uot; he said. &uot;I would do anything that it takes to help them understand and it’s not conventional methods by any means.&uot;

Peterman said he also likes to talk about life issues with his students. He likes for them understand why the things they learn in school are important in life.

&uot;You have to care about the students (and) not only for the time period they’re in your class,&uot; he said.

If you do that, your job becomes easier, he added.

&uot;You can fool everybody but the students,&uot; he said. &uot;The students know if you know what your talking about and if they’re learning.&uot;

Peterman also helps the high school with computer work, assists with ACT and Functional Literary Exam workshops and is a Key Club sponsor.

Although he will be entered into the state’s Teacher of the Year contest, winning awards is not the most important aspect of his job.

He would be happier if a student tells him years from now that his teaching made a difference in his life.

That will be worth &uot;a whole lot more than any teacher of the year award,&uot; he said.