‘I’m just an extension of the people that I’ve known.’ Meet Page One Top Teacher winner
Carver High School teacher Mario Nazien didn’t plan on becoming an educator.
He wanted to go into the Air Force, but while substitute teaching in Albany, he was credited with guiding a wayward student on a constructive track toward graduation. That motivated him to pursue his teaching certification.
“They told me I had a gift,” he said in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, “and I probably need to change my mind about what I was going to do.”
Nazien, 40, has worked in a wide variety of positions during his 17-year career as an educator: Substitute. Aide. Coach. Teacher. Grade-level chairman. Those experiences have helped shape his approach as a U.S. history teacher at Carver High School.
“I must be committed to taking a student from their level and to guide, lead and push them to the highest level in their academic career through highlighting their positive aspects and making provisions for improving their negative qualities,” Nazien wrote in his Page One Awards application.
That philosophy helped the Page One judges select him as the 2021 Sara Spano Top Teacher, named in honor of the late Ledger-Enquirer food editor, who also was a teacher and a Muscogee County School Board member.
Nazien’s commitment to the progress of his students was evident to the judges.
“You can truly see that Mario cares deeply about his students, especially those who have faced difficult hardships in their young lives,” the judges wrote in their evaluation. “He impressed us greatly with his genuineness and humble demeanor. His students are lucky to have him as a teacher.”
Carver principal Chris Lindsey agrees.
“I have found Mario to be cooperative and decisive, compassionate and determined,” Lindsey wrote in his recommendation. “… Mario Nazien has the knowledge and mental intelligence that places him at the top of an extensive list.”
Nazien is among the winners of the 14 categories in this year’s Page One Awards, the L-E’s 46th annual celebration of outstanding high school seniors and teachers in the Columbus area. Restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic meant Tuesday night’s ceremony was conducted only online.
Shrugging off that format change, Nazien told the L-E it allowed folks who couldn’t attend an in-person gathering to watch the announcements.
“It was still positive,” he said.
Nazien said he was stunned when he heard his name announced as the winner. He expressed his gratitude for the support he has received from the Carver faculty and staff, especially Lindsey, assistant principals Lisa Norris and Michelle Halloway and athletics director and head football coach Corey Joyner.
“Other people are deserving of this in our profession,” he said. “I’m not looking for individual awards — just thankful to be among some great educators.”
After graduating from Dougherty Comprehensive High School in 1999, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Albany State University in 2004, then his teaching certification through the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program.
Nazien began his education career in 2004 in the Dougherty County School District and moved to Columbus in 2019 to join Joyner at Carver.
In addition to coaching track and field, Nazien has been junior varsity football head coach and varsity football defensive backs and special teams coach. He serves on Carver’s leadership team and has participated in the Center for African American Males conferences at Albany State.
Having taught special-education students and English language learners, as well as working in a middle school, makes him more compassionate toward the diverse high school students in his classes and on his teams, Nazien said. And so does being raised by a single parent, he said.
“I’m just an extension of the people that I’ve known,” he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nazien estimated, one-fifth of his students attend his classes in person while the rest attend online. Regardless of where they are, he said, the key to connecting with them is the same.
“It’s relationships,” he said. “You’ve got to add humor and as much fun as you can and make it as personal as you can with the kids. … The smallest detail can make an impact. You don’t think about it until people tell you what you did.”
