HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: When Jenna’s business teacher went on medical leave, Hailey stepped in to support the long-term substitute. Even though this was her first year of teaching, Hailey dove headfirst into going above and beyond for the students. Jenna’s mom, Melanie, heard all about the extraordinary effort Hailey put in to ensuring the students felt confident in their learning. This experience is just one example that highlights how Hailey consistently shows up for her students every day, beyond what is expected of her.

MELANIE WHITLEY: Well, the interesting thing about Hailey and Jenna originally, Jenna did not have Ms. Hailey as her teacher. When she first started her first year, and this just goes to show how she shows up for these kids every day, Jenna had a different teacher. And the teacher that she had for the business class, the computer class she had, was on medical leave, and so they had long-term subs. And long-term subs can do so much, but they were lacking some instruction that was needed. And Ms. Hailey, without being prompted, without being asked, stepped in for all the students, and she had every one of those kids. And that was her first year teaching. She was also working on her master’s degree while teaching, and she took on all of these students. And it’s really impressive, that really impressed me. She wanted to make sure the kids learned what they needed to learn in that class. Even though she wasn’t their teacher, she was their teacher. And she basically opened the door between the two classes and stood there and taught to all of them. So she had a huge amount of students she was teaching and it was a responsibility she took upon herself that she really didn’t have to take upon herself. Jenna would come home, and she’d talk about this, Ms. Hailey, and then when she would talk about what she was doing, I was like, she’s making a huge impact on these kids, and she’s just really impressive. And then you get to know her on a personal level, and she’s a really sweet, kind-hearted person.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Building on the story Melanie shared, Hailey reflects on how this experience in her first year of teaching was a defining moment for her. Fearlessly diving into this not only built her confidence but also assured her she was doing exactly what she was meant to do.

HAILEY ELLZEY: I think one of the most defining moments of my teaching career for the last four years has been what Melanie spoke about in my first year teaching. I was 20 years old. I had just graduated with my bachelor’s degree. I jumped into my master’s, and I’m now teaching not only my 150 kids, plus a study hall, but I’m teaching somebody else’s 150. I was responsible for both classes because I jumped in. I didn’t even know anything was going on. To my knowledge, she was updating the stuff online. And a student had come over to me crying, and they said, “Ms. Hailey, I’m grounded because I have a zero in Survey of Business.” I’m like, “Why do you have a zero? You know, we need to get the work turned in.” And they’re telling me, “There’s no work, there’s no work posted, and there’s nothing being graded of the stuff that we have done.” So I, that day, got permission from my principal to have access to the online grading system, the Google Classroom, and I started filtering on anything that I could do. And then I started recording my lessons the night before, posting it so that they had to reflect on. I would teach in my classroom for about 30 minutes, and I would switch with the sub and go teach in the other classroom for 30 minutes. So that was such an overwhelming experience, but it forced me to grow up as an educator. You’ve got to get in and you’ve got to get in quick. I knew that teachers had to deal with changes happening all the time, but I did not know that that was what teachers did. Teachers managed chaos, but they did it with compassion, and they always put the students first, no matter what. Looking back, it grounded me in my purpose of being an educator. I was staying before school, after school, and during lunch. I was messaging kids over the weekend, trying to get them caught up. And it reminded me that even in the hardest moment, I still love to teach. 

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Highlighting Hailey’s commitment to supporting her students inside and outside of the classroom, Jenna shares more about her above-and-beyond support. Hailey helps her students prepare for life beyond the classroom by supporting them with resume building, scholarship applications, job searching, and even helping Jenna pursue her Associate of Arts degree while still in high school. Through this, her students are equipped with critical skills to support them beyond their time in her classroom.

JENNA WHITLEY: Last year, I was really wanting to get a job so that I could have my own money to spend. I don’t like to ask my parents for money a lot of the time. It kind of makes me feel bad. So she helped me make my own resume so that I could use it, and she even called around places to see if they were hiring, and genuinely tried to help me get a job. She has helped me with scholarships, filling them out when I didn’t know what to do. I’m getting my AA degree in high school, and I had to figure out how to send my transcripts to the college to get the degree. And she helped me with that. She helped me print things out. 

JENNA WHITLEY: And this year, I’ve been helping with the blood drive a lot, and we found out that there was a scholarship for helping with the blood drive, and so she gave me that scholarship. And not even me, but she’s helped other kids outside of the classroom. We have a program called FOCUS out of school, and you can graduate early so that you can get out into the working world faster. And she has helped sign papers to get other kids into FOCUS when they really needed to. And then she’s also helped Ag. students with CDE competitions. And obviously she’s a business teacher. She has nothing to do with Ag., but she has helped them in any way that she possibly could.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: When we spoke with Hailey’s principal, he mentioned that Hailey is great at building meaningful and professional relationships with her students. Hailey creates a student-centric environment where each student is celebrated for their individuality. By prioritizing bringing her authenticity to the classroom, she allows students to feel safe and respected.

HAILEY ELLZEY: I get asked this a lot about rapport, because he and a couple of others have said that I’m really good at rapport and making relationships with students. But I don’t think about it as something that’s a strategic thing that I plan. I do make sure to prioritize building relationships, and mostly, I think that I can do this by showing them my true, authentic self. I feel like when students feel that they are just talking with another real person, someone who’s actually caring about them, that’s respecting them, that’s willing to be vulnerable and have bad days, have good days, you see the real true of them, that it creates that trust and connection automatically. So it’s not something that I really seek out to do. It’s something that naturally happens with a genuine care that I have for each of the kids that’s in here. I also really prioritize making sure students feel seen and valued. I know every single student I’ve ever taught’s first and middle name. This is Jenna Lauren. I know every kid’s name.

HAILEY ELLZEY: I make sure that I participate in parts of their life that are not just business classes. You can hold them accountable in ways that are outside of school just as much as you can inside of school. And I think I mostly focus a lot on their genuine person, rather than the student that they are in a business class. And so I think that really reinforces a two-way respect, rather than it being like, I’m your teacher, you’re in this class, this is what you’re doing only. My main goal for students is for them to feel safe and respected and to genuinely just be excited to be here. I’m happy that they’re here, even if they don’t want to be here and they’d rather be anywhere else. I’m happy that they’re here. And I think that the foundation of getting to know them as a human before you get to know them as a student, that that fosters the relationship naturally, and so it’s not really something that I strategically am trying to do. It’s something that happens when you care about the person.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Hailey’s positive impact and relationship-building are also witnessed by the parents. She has a natural gift for leading by positive example for her students and creating meaningful connections. Jenna’s mom, Melanie, shares more about the remarkable person Hailey is and the lifelong difference she is making in her students’ lives.

MELANIE WHITLEY: I think that Hailey is a good example of a woman, of how a woman should be in life. She’s a great example.

MELANIE WHITLEY: I know it tears me up just thinking about it. I’m really impressed with her, and I think she cares about her kids, and she makes a difference, and she finds ways to get to know every one of these kids and how she can help them. And so her students are very blessed to have her.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Beyond the classroom, Hailey values community service and involvement. She is involved in a number of programs, including Future Business Leaders of America, EAST, and the high school’s newest Panther Serve Day. Through these programs, Hailey is not only making a difference herself, but she is also supporting her students in cultivating a passion for participating in the community and professional development opportunities.

HAILY ELLZEY: So when I was younger, my grandparents were really involved in the Disabled American Veterans, the DAV, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, the VFW, and I was always going to volunteer for those. And so it felt good to help others. And so when I became a teacher, I still felt that same strong connection, especially when they introduced me to the EAST program. I’ve helped plan the Veterans Day and the blood drives that we’ve done for the community. This year, specifically, Jenna has been one of my main students who’s helped me with the blood drive. And we have raised our donations from about 40 was how many we’ve been getting an average per year, and this year we’ve hit a record in the state at 98 donations. So we actually got an award this morning, as a kind of recognition for us being on the leaderboard of this. But those projects have really taught me a lot about how to organize events and have a real impact, and connecting with the people who are in charge of every little aspect of those events. And then with FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), I did FBLA when I was in high school. And so the last four years doing FBLA as a teacher have been really different in how I have to plan for all the kids to learn the skills that they’re having to take part in. But we’ve also been doing local fundraisers and outreach programs related to that. And then the Panther Serve Day is actually a new one, but it’s actually going to be one of my favorite traditions, I think. So we’ve got one on Tuesday coming up, and it’s where we dedicate an entire school day for all of our 11th and 12th-grade kids to go into the community and volunteer at different places in our community. So some will be cleaning up the park, and some will be helping at food pantries. Some will be helping with local organizations. Some will be painting at East Side Elementary, they’ll be painting up some areas that need some touch-up. And then there’ll be others that are going and picking up trash, planting flowers, that kind of thing. And so I think having been introduced to doing volunteer things at such a young age was probably what started it. 

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: In Jenna’s nomination, she mentioned that Hailey helped her step outside her comfort zone and take on a school project to present to the school board. With Hailey’s support, this experience was invaluable for Jenna and helped her gain confidence in planning and public speaking.

JENNA WHITLEY: So she brought it up to me, and at first I was not sure. It was a bunch of people, and I didn’t know how I would do with talking in front of people. But she told me everything that I needed to have for them. And so I started a slideshow, and she helped me continue that slideshow and put everything I needed with it, and any question I had, she knew exactly how to answer.

JENNA WHITLEY: And so once I had everything, I knew I was going to say, it helped so much more. And so that day Ms. Hailey was like, “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay.” She gave me a little pep talk, and it calmed me down a lot. And then I got up there and I talked in front of them and everything was okay. And it really helped that she was there the whole time to answer any questions I had, and she knew exactly what to say. And it ended up making me feel so much better, and then I wasn’t afraid at all.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Pre-professional classes are important in helping students to build vital skills for their future. During our conversation with Hailey, she expressed the invaluable skills and transformations these classes cultivate. She highlighted how pre-professional classes help students adapt to a fast-changing world, setting them up for both personal and professional success.

HAILEY ELLZEY: So I think that pre-professional classes are incredibly powerful in helping students grow, but not just academically. I think they can also grow professionally and personally. Greenbrier offers a lot of classes for students to complete in their CTE career pathway, and that’s career and technical education. So that could be Ag, that could be business, that could be welding, computer science, human social services, we have a bunch of different pathways offered.

HAILEY ELLZEY: There are things that one kid could learn in a marketing class last year that are not relevant to what they’re going to learn next year. Everything’s changing all the time. So one of my favorite parts of teaching a pre-professional class is watching that growth happen in real time. I’ve had Jenna for the last four years. I’ve seen her be a completely different ninth-grade student who is shy and not outspoken and won’t tell you if anything’s going on that needs to be fixed, or whatever. She will let it slip by. But then to being somebody who’s like, actually, that’s wrong. We’re gonna fix it. We’re gonna do it the right way. She is a leader, she is outspoken, she’s gonna solve the problem, and she’s gonna communicate the way that she needs to communicate. And so seeing that in real-world time is insane. Like with her presenting to the school board, that turned into her then presenting, she presented for our CTE tour with all of our chamber of commerce, all of the admin from all the schools came. She presented to all of them. She’s presented at a career fair, FBLA, and EAST. We went to the EAST convention, and she presented the EAST projects. She’s presented at the FBLA competitions, where she will go on her own and select an event, and then go and compete in whatever event it was that she chose. And then I can also see the students using those skills that they’ve learned in class to do internships. They’ve got job opportunities, I’ve got college scholarships. I’ve got one student who I’ve had for the last four years, and her name is Allie, and she wants to be a marketing major. And so she’s in my marketing classes, and I can help her with her portfolio. I’ve helped her make real-life teacher magazines and projects. And it’s things that you can apply in class now, to where she’s going to be able to apply that when she leaves this year to graduate and go on to college, and she’s going to be able to use those skills.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Reflecting on Jenna’s journey throughout high school, Melanie expands on the growth she’s seen in her daughter. Hailey’s mentorship and teaching will stay with Jenna long after high school, supporting her as she continues to grow, both professionally and personally.

MELANIE WHITLEY: I would say she’s going to remember Hailey for her friendship as well as her mentorship. I think that, and this is funny, that she brought out all of the same stuff, because that is actually what I was thinking.

MELANIE WHITLEY: I don’t think that Jenna would have jumped at the chance to present to a school board or a Chamber of Commerce event or anything like that. I think that was encouragement from a teacher who saw potential in a student. And I think that where Jenna was nervous, Hailey saw that, drew her out, I can do this, you can do this. And so I think that she will be using her mentorship. I think that there’s a friendship there that will continue to grow. And who knows, she may be her maid of honor one day at her wedding.

HANNAH BOWYER-RIVETTE: Thank you so much for listening and joining us today to learn more about Hailey Ellzey, one of our May Honorees and recipient of the Honored National Teaching Award. To read more about her story, you can visit our website at honored.org or click the link in the episode description. If you have a teacher who you want to recognize and nominate for our teaching award, you can head to honored.org/nominate to recognize a teacher today. If you enjoyed today’s episode, you can follow us and leave us a review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening in from. Thanks again for listening, and make sure to tune in next month to hear the incredible story of our June Honoree.