Teaching elementary students appeals to some but not all.
Ms. Christine Hughes she loves teaching first grade. She has been teaching for a total of 13 years.
What appeals to her most is the students. In first grade, she said, students are so excited to learn something new. Not to mention, there is never a dull moment with 6- and 7-years-olds.
Mrs. Hughes graduated college from Penn State and did her student teaching in Bellwood. She then she moved to Virginia and taught second grade for a year.
Mrs. Jennel Miller was her mentor teacher when she was in college, and now they teach right next to one another.
“She gets to know her students well and always brings so much fun into her teaching,” Mrs. Miller said. “She’s the best!”
Ms. Hughes loves teaching first grade so much because of the progress she can watch students make over 9 months.
“My favorite part of class is reading. I love seeing the kids grow as readers,” Mrs. Hughes said. “They come into first grade reading very simple books and leave reading chapter books.”
Ms. Hughes is highly energetic and engaging as a teacher. She loves her grade level so much, she doubts she’ll ever move to another grade.
“I will still be teaching 6- and 7-year-olds 25 years from now with my gray hair and bad back,” she joked.
The quality of education at Bellwood-Antis stands out to her so much that she wants her own elementary daughters, Marylin and Natalie, to go to school at B-A. As Mrs. Hughes sees it, the teachers at B-A truly love each child as their own and go above and beyond what is expected for every student. The staff is “like a family and the community is like no other,” she said.
“I would not let (them) attend any other school district,” said Mrs. Hughes.
