A teacher is someone who, well, teaches. However it takes a special kind of teacher to make kids want to come to school and do something with their lives. That is Antoine Everhart-Chappelle, a sophomore-level world history teacher here at North Atlanta. Many students who have had Everhart as a teacher usually say that he is their favorite teacher. But what exactly makes him so great? According to many, his dedication to his work and the motivation he instills in his students is what sets him apart.

Growing up, Everhart was extremely smart and he said his intelligence could lead to boredom. “I was a rowdy student because I was smart and ahead, all while dealing with personal issues,” he said.

He is a son of Philadelphia and attended schools in his native city up to eighth grade. He then moved to Atlanta along with his family and was a high school student in a new Southern city. For Everhart, his first year in high school was far from a lovely event. “Because I wasn’t focused, and I didn’t yet appreciate the value of school. I didn’t know what to do,” he said.

It was a personal failure, he knew, when he failed ninth grade due to bad behavior. It was the intervention of his teacher that made all the difference. “A teacher worked with me and had my best interests in mind, which helped a lot,” he said.

For college, he first attended Clark Atlanta University because he wanted experience at a historically black college. He received his undergraduate degree in sociology at Georgia State University. At Georgia State, he also studied psychology because he felt the profession was calling him. His motivation to be a psychologist was to help other people and to give back. He shifted gears slightly, however, when he heard about a master’s degree program at Georgia State that would allow him to pursue teacher certification, a path that would open up a teaching career. So he took a chance, and that led him to North Atlanta where he started teaching in 2010.

Everhart enjoys teaching, but there is a special part about the process that he considers his favorite. “My favorite part about teaching is the relationship-building I get from students and staff,” he said.

This is evident in the fact that he is the advisor of the Students of Excellence group at North Atlanta, a group whose mission is to “Create leaders while changing lives.”

Although he has completed many of his goals, Everhart still plans on doing bigger and better things. “I plan on expanding my business to a multi-million dollar empire, while owning my own non-profit organization where I help and mentor students,” said Everhart.

Toward this end, he has already started the Students of Excellence program. The group currently is at North Atlanta, but Everhart plans on seeing the group grow and expand to other campuses.

Anybody can be a teacher, yet it is up to the individual to make such an impact like Everhart has here at North Atlanta. In the words of many students, “Mr. Everhart is the BEST!”