Here at Lincoln High School, we have a total of five English teachers.
Mrs. Sarah Young teaches English & Speech Communication. She has been teaching for a total of eight years, and she is working on her 9th year now. She has been at Lincoln for two years and is working on her 3rd year. Mrs. Young says her favorite class to teach is Speech. She told our newspaper staff that she has always wanted to be a teacher. Mrs. Young stated, "I was really inspired by good and bad teachers; and I had a revelation that my doctors and politicians and such would be my students first, so I wanted to be sure I got a chance to educate and influence them. Her best memory in all her years of teaching so far deals with a student she once had in Speech class. The student graduated and went to Shepherd University. She came back for a visit and made sure to let Mrs. Young know that while taking a Speech class in college, she was able to excel in the class without taking notes or studying exceptionally hard, because Mrs. Young had covered everything she needed to know in her high school Speech course. Mrs. Young said it was great to know that she had helped out a student and that she was challenging her students.
Next is Mrs. Alana Hayes who teaches 9th and 10th English classes here at Lincoln. She has been teaching for ten years, but only six of those years have been at Lincoln. Mrs. Hayes said her favorite class to teach would be English 10 because she thinks that is the grade where the students begin to write and connect with the text to create impressive essays and projects. Mrs. Hayes didn't go straight into college knowing she wanted to be an English teacher. She told the newspaper staff that she has always had a love for reading and writing; so when she was in college, she asked her English adviser what major she could choose that would allow her to take more English courses, and he suggested the field of secondary education majoring in English and the rest is history. Mrs. Hayes could not think of just one thing when we asked her to think of a favorite memory in all the years she has been a teacher. She said she couldn't possibly answer the question because each class, day, and year brings new memories.
Mrs. Connie Payton is the third English teacher. Mrs. Payton teaches 9th grade English, 9th grade Honors English, and AP Language & Composition. She has been teaching in her current position at Lincoln for 11 years, but has been a teacher for 25 years. Mrs. Payton said her love for school is what made her want to become a teacher. She stated, "I just always loved school." Her favorite class to teach is her AP class. She told the newspaper staff that her favorite memory would have to be when students return and let her know that she was an impact or positive influence in their lives.
Mrs. Boyles in the next English teacher. She teaches Honors English to 10th graders and also regular 10th grade English. Beginning this year, she has started teaching Teacher Cadet I, a course through Fairmont State University that introduces high school students to the education field. She has been a teacher for 32 years and has spent 31 of those here at Lincoln. Her high school teachers inspired her to start teaching. She said she always wanted to be like them. Her favorite class to teach currently is English 10 Honors. She loves seeing students graduate and saying "thanks for helping me learn in high school." A memory outside of the classroom that she will always cherish is when she won three state cheerleading titles as the coach for the Lincoln High School cheerleaders.
Lastly, Mrs. Maria Osbourn in the last English teacher in the department. Mrs. Osbourn teaches English 11, AP English Literature, and is the yearbook and newspaper advisor. She has been teaching for a total of 12 years and has spent every one of those years here at Lincoln. Mrs. Osbourn enjoys teaching AP English Literature the most because of the level of complexity and maturity of the work in that class. When asked why she wanted to be a teacher, she said she has known since she was a young girl playing school in her grandma's basement with her friends that she wanted to be one. She said, "It is funny that out of the six of us who played school so often, four of us became teachers - one is my sister who is also an English teacher in Maryland, another is Mrs. Emily Howe who teaches math at the middle school, and the fourth is Mrs. Danielle Veltri-Hood who is now a principal at North View Elementary." She loves the impact that she hopes she makes on individual students, classes as a whole, and all of Lincoln High School. She is 100% sure this is what she was meant to do. When asked about her favorite memory, she said it was too difficult to pinpoint one memory as she has had so many memorable students and classes, but she loved being an advisor to the class of 2013 and the class of 2017 for four years because she got to see all those young teenagers turn into really good people.
