HCS names teachers of the year

By NEAL EMBRY

Homewood City Schools recently named their teachers of the year for the 2022-23 school year.

The teachers of the year are:

► Sadie Wall, Edgewood Elementary

► Abigail Marchetti, Hall-Kent Elementary

► Hailey Pepper, Shades Cahaba Elementary

► Becky Morton, Homewood Middle School

► Mark Hellmers, Homewood High School Marchetti and Morton were named the district’s elementary and secondary teachers of the year, respectively, and will represent Homewood City Schools at the next level of competition.

The Homewood Star spoke to each teacher about their careers and thoughts on receiving this honor.

SADIE WALL

Wall initially wanted to be a band director, but her student teaching steered her toward education.

After graduating from the University of Montevallo, Wall taught for one year in Jefferson County schools and two years in Pell City. She was looking for something permanent when she found Edgewood Elementary.

“I was looking for a school that feels like home,” she said.

Edgewood Elementary has been Wall’s home for four years now, teaching music in a system that has been named one of the “Best Communities for Music Education” by the National Association of Music Merchants.

Music creates community, something Wall said she strives to instill in her students. In a polarized world, music can still unite us, she said. It also improves students’ overall well-being to play music, she said.

Wall tries to plan intentional lessons, mixing in different instruments and exposing students to different genres.

“To be able to really connect with music and know the elements that create it, it makes it a much more meaningful experience,” she said.

Music education helps prepare students for their interaction with music as they grow up, Wall said.

“In our society, all of us interact with music in some way,” Wall said. “Everyone will be a music consumer in some way.”

Being named a teacher of the year was an honor and a shock, Wall said.

“I teach with so many amazing teachers,” she said. “It’s just really incredible.”

Wall said she feels very supported in her position at Edgewood and hopes to continue advocating for stronger music programs throughout the state, helping get music education to schools that do not have it.

Abigail Marchetti

Marchetti always wanted to be a teacher and has always loved working with kids.

After graduating from Samford University, Marchetti was able to get a job at Hall-Kent and has stayed there for the past six years, teaching kindergarten. The school provides a “very unique blend” of students from diverse backgrounds, she said.

Seeing children learn and grow is exciting to her, Marchetti said.

Marchetti works to bring real-world experiences to the classroom, such as making apple sauce and other hands-on activities, she said. She also co-leads an after-school program called Rise, helping educate at-risk students and facilitating service-oriented projects.

Being a kindergarten teacher is “definitely interesting,” she said. Going slowly with children and parents at the beginning of the year gives way to them becoming more comfortable as the year goes on, she said.

Finding out she had been named teacher of the year was a surprise, she said. She had taken a break and walked out of her room, and when she came back in, her students and colleagues were waiting to surprise her, she said.

“It’s a huge honor and I don’t feel worthy of it,” Marchetti said. “It’s very encouraging and exciting.”

Hailey Pepper

Pepper grew up around education, part of a family of teachers.

When she found music education, she said she never looked back.

“I love … introducing students to originally worked at Homewood High School before moving to Shades Cahaba.

Shades Cahaba, she said, is a “special school” with “special people.”

Pepper said she tries to focus her classes on meaningful music education and helping students learn all that they can.

Being named a teacher of the year means a lot, Pepper said, as she works with many great teachers.

“It truly is an honor,” she said.

Becky Morton

As a student at John Carroll Catholic High School, Morton volunteered in a special needs class, setting her on a path that led back to Homewood.

After obtaining her degree in special education, Morton spent 12 years teaching in Jefferson County schools. She had previously served as a substitute teacher at all five schools in Homewood.

“I loved it; it was so much fun,” she said.

For the past 12 years, Morton has served as a special education teacher at the middle school, going into classrooms to implement individualized education programs, serving 12 classes in her eighth-grade hall. She is hands-on with students and can also use her classroom to help when needed, she said.

Morton arrives at school each day and learns the needs in each classroom, making sure classes are ready for students with special needs.

“I enjoy the challenge,” Morton said. “I enjoy meeting them where they are academically.”

Morton said being in other systems has allowed her to appreciate the support from parents, the administration and the Homewood community for those with special needs.

Each day brings something funny, she said. She’s also proud of the moments where she’s able to help students and find how they will learn best.

Morton also enjoys connecting with her students outside of school and keeping up with them when they leave.

She is passionate about making sure there are ways to help students with special needs after they walk across the graduation stage, from landing a job to transportation.

“That is definitely a love of mine,” Morton said.

Being named a teacher of the year was an “honor,” she said.

“It was very humbling,” Morton said. “I teach with some amazing teachers.”

Mark Hellmers

Hellmers has always been interested in math and found a passion for teaching the subject when he filled in for a teacher at Homewood High School while she was on maternity leave. Twenty-eight years later, Hellmers is still teaching math to high school students.

“I always wanted to do something I felt was important and worthwhile for a career,” he said. “Working in an office didn’t have a lot of appeal.”

High school students are “a little more grown up,” Hellmers said.

Math, he said, is “like solving a puzzle.” instruments,” Pepper said. “I get to give them that basic layer they can build on.”

“Math shouldn’t be just, ‘try to solve these 10 problems your teacher did.’ It should be developing skills where, ‘Here's a situation you haven’t seen before; what do you do?’” Hellmers said.

Being named teacher of the year is a nice honor, he said.

Being in Homewood is like being “in music teacher heaven,” she said.

“I feel very supported here,” Pepper said.

Music is not just another class to give teachers a break, she said.

Originally from Mississippi, Pepper moved to Birmingham when her husband got a job with the Birmingham Barons baseball team. She

“I don’t think any of the teachers here are looking for prizes or awards or anything, but I know that nominations come from my fellow teachers. … It’s nice to be thought of in that manner by them,” he said.

Hellmers teaches three different classes within the math department and also serves as one of four sponsors of the school’s math team. In the future, he plans to take advantage of the state of Alabama’s STEM-focused “TEAMS” contracts and continue teaching.

“I still kind of like what I’m doing,” Hellmers said. “I’m happy to still be here.”