Lisa Grice is the reigning “Teacher of the Year” at Columbia Elementary School. She teaches fifth-grade science. (Photo by Angela Dollar Photography)

MADISON – Fifth-grade science teacher Lisa Grice is “Teacher of the Year” at Columbia Elementary School.

With her “Share Their Love” outreach, Grice leads students in writing postcards “passionately with their heart and using bright colors ” to encourage people. They have sent thousands of “passionate postcards” to students, relatives and soldiers.

In feedback, a daughter wrote that her mother, ‘Gramma Watson,’ was diagnosed with cancer. Grice’s students wrote 90-plus get-well notes. “Our family still remembers Gramma Watson calling us from her Boise, Idaho home, full of total excitement. She laughed and cried as she read each student’s note,” the daughter said.

Gramma Watson visited Grice’s English students at Columbia for a question-and-answer session. Students witnessed firsthand the results of their letter writing. “Every one of Ms. Grice’s students has earned angel wings and halos. Ms. Grice, you will forever have a place in our heart,” the daughter said.

Grice also sponsors Science Olympiad.

Grice enjoys “sowing seeds in the lives of my ‘babies’ and seeing the results in a harvest of great young citizens producing fruits of love, patience, humility, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and selflessness,” she said.

Among her teachers, Grice first remembers her mother who “modeled loyalty, dedication and commitment to your purpose/calling. She worked in the same place for 40-plus years, serving people unconditionally.”

Grice also remembers high school teacher Elizabeth Culverson, who supported her “desires, motivated me to go after my dreams, corrected me when needed and had high expectations. Last but certainly not least, my Lord and Savior is the teacher of all teachers that continues to impact my life and direct my path.”

Grice earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with collaborative in special education at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She also has taught at Columbia Elementary School.

Her husband Marshall is an U.S. Army veteran and works as a logistics management specialist. “Our athletic daughters are Alisia, UAH graduate and former student-athlete in track and field, and Andrea, a college student-athlete playing volleyball,” Lisa said.