Teaching a calling for Hilley
Miss Natalie Hilley, former student teacher, current substitute, and future full-time teacher at WF next semester, is very excited and ready for her new job.
Hilley has wanted to teach since she was four years old, and has always felt it
what was she was meant to do.
“I think the Lord calls certain people to do certain things, and I was really, really blessed to know so early what my calling was. And, I loved school,” Hilley said.
Hilley has been student teaching with Kim Cimney, WF English III teacher this semester. Next semester, she will be teaching English full-time; however, as she is getting married in January, she will be Mrs. Shealy.
“Miss Hilley has been a thoughtful, creative, and energetic student teacher,” said Cimney. “I have no doubt she will make a difference with her students.”
As a Florence native, Hilley attended Wilson High School but graduated from West Florence. She then attended Francis Marion University, and is graduating from there in December. She is majoring in Secondary English Education.
Hilley said that she found herself and her identity during her high school years.
“Rebelling against what your parents and people expect of you or want you to be, and then really deciding that either yes, that’s who I am or no, that’s not what I want to do, that’s not who I am. It’s hard to do that because you want to please the people around you,” Hilley said about high school.
Hilley’s favorite part about teaching is building relationships with her students. Her least favorite is the pounds of paperwork she has to complete. Her favorite part about teaching English specifically is getting to connect it to other common subjects students take in high school.
As everyone knows, teaching a large group of 15 year olds isn’t easy. Hilley said the both best and hardest part of that is that teenagers are both finding their independence in high school and that they are often still treated like children. She said that coping with that is difficult, but rewarding.
In her free time, Hilley enjoys kayaking, painting, and drawing.
Please give Miss Hilley (soon to be Shealy) a warm welcome next semester!
