Geometry teacher and graduation coordinator Miss Hall has been teaching for 24 years and has worked at Sunlake High School ever since it first opened in 2007. “I transferred to Sunlake from Land O Lakes High School when it first opened,” she said. “I thought it would be fun to be a part of opening a school and helping create traditions. Plus, Land O Lakes had many veteran teachers who still looked at me as a young teacher and even would ask for my hall pass.”

Surprisingly, in high school, she struggled with math too! She had help from a great teacher; much like the one she would become years later. “Mr. Solomon was a math teacher who inspired me. He showed me how a teacher should teach students who didn’t quite understand the concepts being taught, and how to build meaningful relationships with students. I am still in touch with him today through social media and sometimes events in my hometown of Brooksville. He still can’t believe I ended up becoming a math teacher.” Before her story as a teacher started, though, she went to school for Marine Biology. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do and changed my major a couple of times. My mom said she always thought I’d be a teacher, from about 4th grade on. I decided to give it a try, and originally wanted to teach elementary school but after a half a year of that, decided I liked high school more.”

Math is a subject that a lot of students struggle with. To help her students who feel like they can’t succeed, she “[lets] them know that I’ve been there before. I didn’t pass Algebra 1 — I used to cry doing my homework — Algebra 2, and college Algebra the first time around, I was not a ‘math-y’ student and I had to really work at it to pass. I ask that they try their best and they may surprise themselves, and instead of saying ‘I can’t’ change it to ‘I will try.'” Being a teacher isn’t without its struggles, either. She wishes she knew before she became a teacher “how little the pay is now since salaries were frozen, and how disrespected the career would become.” The most challenging part, however, “has become cellphones. Students won’t disconnect, therefore, they miss a lot of the material necessary to do well in school.”

“Seeing students who wouldn’t normally do well, and finally get it,” makes it worth the challenges, she says. “Also, after 24 years in this area, I see many of my former students out in the community, and even the ones who didn’t pass still stop to say hi, and sometimes apologize for not being the best student.”

Miss Hall is an irreplaceable part of Sunlake, and she continues to shape the lives of staff and students every day.