HOMETOWN HERO
DEANA HEFFLIN
By Scott Cutlip
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“I knew I wanted to be a teacher before I started kindergarten,” Deana Hefflin said. “I played school with my little sister and had her reading by the time she started school.”
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Hefflin has followed through on that youthful desire, as she will be starting her 22nd straight year at East Hills Middle School.
1989. She attended Carl Albert Community College and Westark (now UAFS), completing her degree at Westark through an Arkansas Tech University program in 1995. Before moving to Greenwood, she taught pre-K and kindergarten classes. Although she started her teaching career with a preference for kindergarten, she said she enjoys working with sixth graders.
Hefflin grew up in Texas and moved to Oklahoma at the age of 10, graduating from Tahlequah High School in
“I wouldn’t change it,” she said. “I love the age group. It’s kind of a turning point for them.”
