As the old saying goes, &uot;things are never as bad as they first seem.&uot; It’s a lesson that we all should remember from time to time.

And it’s one that we were reminded of this week when we learned that Pam Hilton, a first-grade teacher at West Primary, won a $12,000 grant from the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Program.

The good news capped what was a bit of a troublesome week for the Natchez-Adams Schools.

Several bomb threats called into two schools left students, teachers, administrators, parents and the community as a whole frustrated. Thankfully, the alleged perpetrators were quickly found by the quick work of the Natchez Police Department.

What is unfortunate is that the district winds up getting lots of attention from such acts allegedly done by only a handful of its students.

The truth is, a lot of wonderful students do amazing things each day in our public schools without such antics.

Those students excel because they love learning and are likely inspired by teachers such as Hilton, who doggedly pursues every penny of grant funding she can to help educate her students.

We’re certain Hilton instills that never-give-up attitude in each of her students.

And it’s fitting that she earned the Christa McAuliffe honor — she’s only one of two in the entire state. McAuliffe, the teacher who was killed in the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, never gave up either.

We hope that McAuliffe’s legacy and Hilton’s dedication to education serve as examples for others to see that things aren’t so bad in our public schools.

In fact, a lot of things are really good.