Paisley Hanna

Paisley Hanna has always loved learning.

Now she’s preparing to share some of that love with others.

Hanna, a senior at FMU, is an elementary education major in FMU’s School of Education. 

A 2022 graduate of East Clarendon High School and native of Lake City, SC, a small town about 30 minutes from FMU, Hanna loved to learn but the idea of becoming a teacher is fairly new.  It really began, she says, near the end of her high school career when she began helping with her younger sister’s Sunday school class. Later, she taught summer school for sixth grade students at East Clarendon Middle/High School between her junior and senior years of high school. 

A self-proclaimed “Type A” student – Hanna earned an associates degree from Central Carolina Technical College before graduating from high school – she began working on a plan to become a teacher after finding that career to her liking.

She applied for the South Carolina’s Teaching Fellows program, which provides prospective teachers who are top students with significant scholarship funding and special experiences in exchange for committing to the teaching profession.

“From my first day on campus (at FMU) as a high school student attending a preparation workshop for students applying for the Teaching Fellows program through CERRA, I could just picture myself at FMU,” says Hanna. “Everyone was so nice and friendly, from the students who gave us tips to the faculty who shared strategies to prepare us for interviews.”

Hanna says her decision has been confirmed in her three years at FMU. She says the school’s small class sizes (FMU has a 12:1 student to faculty ratio) made her feel at home right from the beginning and allowed her to get to know her professors and fellow students. 

She also found it easy to immerse herself in campus academic life. Among the organizations she joined was Teaching Children of Poverty Scholars (TCOPS) which is led by Drs. Tammy Powloski and Jane Brandis. The group meets monthly. Its members are exposed to different strategies and foundations of learning that can be applied in the classroom, in particular, as the name suggests, to classrooms filled with students who are poverty-stricken.  

“I’m in my second school placement (at J.C. Lynch Elementary in Coward) and I’ve already been able to use many of the strategies I’ve learned from TCOPS as I’m working with so many different types of students,” says Hanna.

Hanna says the Teaching Fellows program has been instrumental in her development as a future teacher. The Teaching Fellows program has afforded her the opportunity to attend at least one conference each year. The program has also provided ample opportunities for community service and professional development.

Hanna has worked with FMU’s Teacher Cadet program, which is designed to introduce high school students to the education profession. The Teacher Cadet program lines up university partners with local schools. FMU has one of the largest programs of its kind in the state. Hanna was in the FMU program while in high school, so it made sense to her to volunteer with the program now. She meets with high school students during FMU open houses and special Teacher Cadet events to discuss teaching, teaching education, and related topics.

Hanna has been busy outside of academics, and outside of FMU.

She joined a sorority, was part of FMU’s inaugural Acro Tumbling team (she taught tumbling from 7th grade until this past August), and was vice president of the FMU Education Club. 

She’s been the junior varsity cheer coach at The Carolina Academy in Lake City the past two years, and has been involved in her younger siblings’ lives as well, cheering them on at school athletic events, and helping out with programs at church.

The ability to stay in touch with family and community life was an important factor in her decision to attend FMU.

Hanna is now looking forward to launching her education career.

She hopes to teach fourth or sixth grade next year, and would like to be certified for Middle School ELA (English and Language Arts) soon. That’s her favorite academic area, and the additional certification would allow her to teach that subject to 7th and 8th graders.

Down the road, Hanna can imagine herself returning for still more education – remember, she loves to learn! – and becoming a school administrator.

Considering all she’s done so far, it’s not hard for others to imagine that as well.