In 2025, Mrs. Amanda Rutherford was named Bixby Central Elementary’s Teacher of the Year with her incredible intention and ability to inspire students “kindly,” as her students Ophelia and Ayden say. Mrs. Rutherford prefers pop over coffee or tea, summer over winter, and cows over cats or dogs.
Mrs. Rutherford is in her 20th year as a teacher, and currently teaches 2nd grade. She was led to teaching by her past as a student. School was a place she felt “seen and heard and loved and encouraged,” and wanted to create the same environment for her students. She also had siblings with undiagnosed learning disabilities, so she saw teaching as an opportunity to help others with similar struggles.
One of her students, Caleb, says that Mrs. Rutherford is really good at multiplication, and another student, Ayden, says she is really good at helping people: “Every five seconds its, Mrs. Rutherford!” Caleb, Ayden, and two more of her students, Ophelia and Rylan, all say that their favorite activity to do in class is math. Ophelia, Caleb, and Ayden say that Mrs. Rutherford inspires them “kindly.” Ayden notes that "if we had all the kids in the class…everybody would say kindly." Rylan says Mrs. Rutherford inspires her by “showing love.”
To feel inspired herself, Mrs. Rutherford turns to her faith and her students: "They have so much grace and love and they want to learn, and so I want to be my best for them.” She says that teaching has taught her patience, and that “it’s okay to make mistakes and learn from them.”
When asked what they would like to thank Mrs. Rutherford for, Ophelia said “thank you for being kind to me.” Rylan said “thank you for being kind and teaching us.” Caleb said, “teaching us,” and Ayden said: “I’ve got ten thousand things…i’ll just say teaching.”
Mrs. Rutherford hopes that years from now, students remember “that they were loved, and that they are loved from this day forward,” for both “who they are going to be as much as who they are right now.”
A piece of advice she would give to future teachers is to “find what you were passionate about in learning and hold on to that passion throughout, because education ebbs and flows… but if you always know what your passion is and why you’re doing what you’re doing, you can get through any of those hard times.”
Mrs. Rutherford is an excellent example of grace and understanding at Central Elementary, and BPS is lucky to have her! Congratulations Mrs. Rutherford!