Women Who Teach

Yavapai College is breaking new ground in higher education with the launch of its accelerated Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree Program. Designed to make college more affordable, accessible, and career-focused, this new model offers students the opportunity to earn a full bachelor’s degree in less time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional four-year institutions.

When Sheryl Gillum looks out across Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU) Prescott campus each June, she sees more than classrooms and dorm halls—she sees possibility. As a long-time Arizonan and director of Embry-Riddle’s Upward Bound program, Sheryl has become a familiar face in the community, guiding underserved local teens toward the promise of higher education.

This summer, 34 bright students arrived at ERAU—eager to begin a six-week journey filled with academic challenges, leadership workshops and life-changing experiences.

Amanda Beland is a painter, teacher and entrepreneur. But the Prescott native is first and foremost, an artist. If you don’t get that, she’s happy to set you straight. She found her passion in airbrushing and prevailed against sexism and stereotyping to build a career out of it. As an adjunct instructor at YC’s Career & Technical Education Center (CTEC), Amanda shares the skills she developed, and challenges students to do the same.

Though only in her second year as math teacher and Student Council Advisor at Prescott Mile High Middle School, Katie Winter is no newcomer to the Prescott Unified School District (PUSD).

“The last thing I ever thought I’d be doing is teaching.”

From her office on Yavapai College’s (YC) CTEC Campus, Cassi Gibson still sounds a little surprised. A Bagdad native, Cassi graduated from YC’s Electronics program in 2011, seeking a career that could take her far and wide.

After finding success playing multiple roles in a variety of industries, now she is back, helping her students do the same.

When the Kindergarten teacher position opened up at Lincoln Elementary School within the Prescott Unified School District (PUSD) in the 2024 school year, Lincoln alum Bethany Dillon knew she had to apply. After all, not only did she attend Lincoln, but her mom, Kim, teaches there, too.

Seeing each other most days is just one of the special perks that both women enjoy. Bethany said, “I am very lucky to spend the time learning from and watching my mom be the amazing teacher that she is!” Kim, a second-grade teacher who volunteered at Lincoln when Bethany attended there in 2002, fell in love with the Lincoln community and said working with Bethany, “…is always one of those full circle gratifying moments for me and why I often feel I have the best job in the world.”