The Cleveland County Board of Education on Aug. 11 formally recognized Tina White, a health sciences teacher at Kings Mountain High School, as a finalist for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCAT) 2026 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year award.

Dr. Karen Sumner, deputy executive director of NCAT, presented the recognition and described the honor as one that “highlights Ms. White's contributions to CTE instruction and her impact on the students and community here in Cleveland County.” The board paused its business to congratulate White and hear remarks from NCAT and partners in career and technical education.

According to NCAT’s remarks to the board, finalists will attend a week of professional development and be evaluated by a panel of state judges during interviews and portfolio review in December; the winner will be announced at an event on Dec. 4 at the Quarry Convention Center in Greensboro. The certificate read at the meeting listed NCAT, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and other signatories and identified White as a 2026 finalist representing Kings Mountain High School and Cleveland County Schools.

Board members and district staff who joined the presentation included Melissa Wilson, principal at Kings Mountain High School, and Rhonda Benfield, Cleveland County Schools’ CTE director. Robert Bowers from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s CTE unit also attended and was recognized from the dais.

The board’s recognition was ceremonial; no formal vote beyond the routine acknowledgment was recorded. The district’s certificate and remarks note that finalists will receive professional development opportunities and that the state-level winner will be announced in December.

Tina White and district representatives did not present budgetary or programmatic measures to the board as part of this recognition. The board’s actions that evening otherwise addressed routine consent items, facilities bids and policy approvals.