As the 2014-15 school year begins, many changes creep their way into the halls of BHS. In particular, these are the new faces in many of the classrooms. BJH has six new teachers. The high school has one new teacher along with a new assistant band director, ISD supervisor, and secretary.
Monica Ross is now the eighth grade reading and English teacher. She studied at Mississippi State University and afterwards taught at South Pontotoc the past 18 years. She is married to David Ross, who is also a new staff member at BHS. They have three children: Wesley, Kirby, and Maggie. Some interesting facts about her are that she grew up on a dairy farm and has a fear of spiders and tornadoes. She enjoys spending time with her family, watching her children play ball, and watching the Hallmark Channel.
When asked what her expectations are for the year, M. Ross stated, “I hope to instill a love of reading and writing in my students.”
David Ross is not only a new teacher, but is also the new junior high and high school football coach. He teaches Physical Education and ACT Prep. He attended East Mississippi Community College and Western Governor’s University; he later taught fifth grade at Pontotoc Middle School. His hobbies include hunting and spending time with family.
“I hope to help educate students on the importance of Physical Education,” stated Ross. “I also hope to prepare students for their ACT test.” Besides teaching and coaching, he is a Baptist preacher.
Janae Winter is teaching seventh and eighth grade history. She has spent the past years obtaining her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Mississippi but is currently working on her Master’s at MSU. Since this is Winter’s first teaching job, she has extremely high expectations for her students as well as herself. She is married, has a fear of bugs, and loves to sing and read.
“I love working with the middle school and junior high students,” said the new 7th-8th grade Special Education teacher, Stephanie Hardin. “I think this is one of the most important times in the ‘growing up’ process and being able to take part in so many young people’s lives is a true blessing!” She attended Ole Miss and taught English at Calhoun City Middle School the past two years. She is married and had a baby around a year ago. Her biggest fear is going somewhere she does not know anyone. Hardin hopes to help students with organization and to be able to see and appreciate all of their positive attributes. She has a dog named Gracie Faye, and her hobbies include reading, hanging out with her husband, and taking her son, Owen, for rides on their golf cart.
Corey Young is yet another addition to the BJH teaching staff; he is a part of the English department.
Shelia Ferguson is not entirely new to the BHS staff; she has returned after teaching elsewhere. Now she is seventh grade math teacher. After studying at Ole Miss, she taught the past 15 years- seven at Calhoun Academy and eight at BHS before that. Her expectations are for her students to score advanced on their tests at the end of the year. She loves to spend time with her family and is married to Mark Ferguson. They have four children: Justin, Joey, Jared, and Jordan. She has three grandsons and four step-grandchildren.
The new ISD supervisor is Larry Haggard. He has been pastor at Rocky Mount Baptist Church since October 2011. He has been married to his wife, Susie, 42 years; they have one son and one granddaughter. He taught at Maben the 1996-97 school year and worked as a substitute teacher five years in three different school districts. He is interested in sports and helping students in any way possible.
Besides being assistant band director, Cody Roberts teaches music at BUES. This is only his first job as a teacher after spending the past years studying at Ole Miss. He enjoys wakeboarding and duck hunting and fears snakes. Roberts briefly described his goals for the year by saying, “I hope to teach the students to the best of my ability and help them grow to be great musicians.”
Kim Carr also returned to BHS to retrieve her previous job as secretary. She worked at BHS two years ago. On the contrary, she spent five years at BES as a tutor and computer lab teacher. She went to college at Northwest Community College. She has been married to her husband Orville 26 years and has three children and two grandchildren.
