PITTSBORO – Multiple St. Pauls High School educators represented the school district well during the NC Standards Academy and 2025 Growing Success for Multilingual Learners (MLs) Summer Conference, held recently at Northwood High School in Chatham County, and returned with more tools, strategies, and inspiration to better support English learners in their classrooms.
Representing the district were St. Pauls High School’s Erika McComb Jacobs, Academic Coach and Lead Teacher; Matthew Blue, Math Teacher and St. Pauls High School’s 2025-2026 Teacher of the Year; and Anna Gudauskas, English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher.
Gudauskas was also a featured presenter at the conference, delivering two in-person sessions and one virtual session titled Vocabulary in Action: Building Connections Through Practice, Tech & Hands-On Learning. Her interactive presentation focused on equipping educators with research-based strategies to help multilingual learners acquire vocabulary through engaging, multimodal techniques—blending traditional practices with AI tools, gamification, and real-world application.
“The experience at the Growing Success for MLs Summer Conference was truly meaningful and energizing,” Gudauskas said. “It was my longest and most interactive presentation yet, and I had a blast sharing strategies that combine mindset, movement, and technology. Being part of such a supportive, purpose-driven team made the experience even more impactful.”
The educators were among multiple individuals across the state who received sponsorship from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Multilingual/Title III team to attend the sessions at Northwood High School in Chatham County. The sponsorships given by NCDPI reinforced its strategic work to enhance teacher capacity, provide professional development sessions and ensure that multilingual learners receive high-quality instruction that meets their academic and language development needs.
Each expressed gratitude for the opportunity to attend and to learn more about honing their skills to better serve multilingual learners.
“The ML Conference was such a rich experience for me,” McComb Jacobs said. “I learned strategies that will truly accelerate learning for MLs and every student! Presenters creatively showcased a love, empathy, and responsibility for the ML learners that is inspirational and transformative. I am grateful for the resources and opportunity!”
Blue also shared appreciation for the opportunity.
“It was a privilege and an honor to attend. The sessions were helpful in determining different strategies to reach out, better understand, and better engage our ML learners,” Blue said.