JB: How long have you been teaching? 

SM: This is my 17th year teaching.

JB: Which subjects do you teach?

SM: Right now I’m certified in English, 7th through 12th grade. I’ve taught fifth grade and sixth grade. And right now I’m serving as Student Services Coordinator for the Career Technical Center.

JB: What traits do you think you need to have to be a teacher?

SM: To be a teacher? I think you need patience. I think you need compassion. I think you need just to be a person who looks for the good in others and sees your student’s potential. 

JB: How has high school changed since you were in high school

SM: High school is nothing like when I was in high school. It has changed where there’s much more available to students than there was when I was in high school. I graduated high school in 1987. So there has been a long time, [There’s] much more available to students,. Students have so many more opportunities than I had in high school.

JB: Okay, if there was anything you would change about your teaching career, would you?

SM: The only thing I would change is I would have gone into it a lot sooner. I have a degree in business. And I worked in the corporate world for about 12 years prior to becoming a teacher.

JB: Have you won any other words awards for teaching?

SM: The only other awards I’ve won are I was nominated for teacher of distinction and did not win it, but I was nominated. And I was also I have also won employee of the month, several times.

JB: Okay. Has teaching always been your dream job?

SM:  It wasn’t my dream job. I really wanted to work for a corporation. But once I became a teacher, it has become my dream job.

JB: Is there anything else you would like to add

SM: This is my third year at the Tupelo High School campus here at the Career Center. And I have really enjoyed working here.