What’s the best part of teaching for Lani Gray? Children!
“They never forget how you make them feel. I always want all my students to believe they are the best,” Gray said, adding, “Once you’re in my class, you’re always one of my kids.”
Gray, an Anderson University graduate, takes to heart the importance of being a positive mentor to students who come into her classroom at ACE Academy, a new alternative elementary school in Anderson District 5. Photos of every student she’s taught grace a door in her room, serving as a reminder of why she’s there.
Because of all that, ACE Academy recognized Gray, a graduate of the Anderson University College of Education, as their Teacher of the Year. She’s pictured above with Principal Josh Bacchus.
Gray, who initially received her Bachelor of Science in Human Services and Resources from Anderson, didn’t initially want to teach. While a student studying human services, she did an internship with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and worked in the Anderson County Solicitor’s Office. She also was the Drug Court Coordinator for Anderson County, a job she held for six years.
When she and her husband talked of plans for starting a family, she decided to go back to school and become a certified teacher. A few years into her teaching career, Gray returned to Anderson University, where she earned her master’s degree in education.
“When I decided to go back to school,” Gray recalls, “I was a working adult and was pregnant at the time with my second child. It was so convenient because I was a teacher at Concord Elementary and went to school (at Anderson University) at night. It was exactly what I needed. You can’t beat the professors and the help and support that you get.”
Having been named Teacher of the Year at her former school, Concord Elementary, and at Anderson Adult Education, she jokingly says of her latest honor that the third time is a charm.
“Now I think after being selected by my peers three times, it’s very clear where I’m supposed to be,” Gray said. “I’m just trying to be an encouragement and a positive role model for all these kids who need me, and I need them just as much as they need me.”
“I come from a divorced family,” Gray said. “Thank goodness I had a strong steady support system, but so many don’t have that.” Thinking of the children in her classroom today, she reflects, “But for God’s grace, this could have been my life. And so, we’re just here as a team to fully support however we can.”
Anderson University College of Education Dean Dr. Channon Horn said, “Lani is a testament to the power of a passionate, dedicated, quality educator who intentionally invests in the lives of her students. Mrs. Gray fulfills the mission of the College of Education at Anderson University well. We are proud of her accomplishments!”
Gray will never forget one experience of being there for one of her students.
“She brought me a little piece of paper and wrote down when her basketball game schedule was at the rec center. I walk in and her eyes just are like, ‘Miss Gray, what are you doing here?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m here for you. You gave me the calendar.’”
Looking back on that day, Gray commented, “I think just allowing them to let me come to another part of their life out to the school… It meant a lot to me. I know it meant a lot to her, too.”
Gray’s oldest daughter Catherine is a junior at Anderson majoring in Nursing. Her in-laws, George and Barbara (Merck) Gray, also attended Anderson. All that said, Anderson University is a family tradition. They recently celebrated George and Barbara’s fiftieth wedding anniversary in the Banquet Hall of theStudent Center at and love coming out to football games in the fall to cheer on the Trojans.
“It’s really a 360—a circle that’s been completed in lots of ways,” she said.