SUMTER COUNTY, South Carolina — For spirit week at Chestnut Oaks Middle School in Sumter, you can count on Mr. Carlton McFadden Jr. to go above and beyond to increase learning skills with his students and have fun doing it.
He says his spirit week outfit is, "Courtesy of Amazon. Trying to give 90's LL Cool J."
From his style to teaching lessons, he knows the importance about being an academic tutor.
"Even if it's something. Just a word of encouragement, or it could be something that's not necessarily related to a math lesson, just something that you can say to one of your scholars can completely change the trajectory of their life forever, and you will never realize," says McFadden Jr.
It's his first year as an academic tutor at Chestnut Oaks where he attended 7th & 8th grade. Last year he was at Furman Middle teaching choir.
"Came back to the house," says McFadden Jr.
And it was these same halls that helped him find his passion for teaching.
"I knew from seventh grade, that I wanted to be a teacher. I didn't know what type of teacher I wanted to be. But I knew that I wanted to be in education. At first, I thought I wanted to teach second grade. And then my mother had my little sister in 2010. And that quickly changed my mind," says McFadden Jr.
Mr. McFadden Jr. may be his official name, but his students, family, and friends call him Mr. Cee’Jay.
"I first got through school and it was the regular C.J, because I was Carlton Junior. But then in seventh grade, I changed the spelling of my own name and started spelling out Cee'Jay because I wanted my own identity and it just kind of stuck with me since," says McFadden Jr.
You can also find Pastor Carlton L. “CEE’JAY” McFadden, Jr. teaching the gospel at Real Life Worship Center, Inc. that he founded.
"I just love the fact that I'm able to take those things that I implement as a pastor, and implement them into my classroom as well," says McFadden Jr. "I get to educate in the four walls of the school and on the outside. So teaching is all that I do."
When you ask students like Shakayla who her favorite teacher is, she'll says she's grateful for Mr. McFadden Jr.'s guidance.
"He makes me feel comfortable. He relates to my situations. And he's close with a lot of students. Makes him likable because of his personality. He keeps it real," says Shakayla.
If you know a teacher like Mr. McFadden Jr. who deserves to be recognized for their hard work in the classroom you can nominate them by emailing us at TOW@WLTX.COM. Tell us what that educator is doing every day to go above and beyond in the classroom.