3 minute read
Hometown Hero
HOMETOWN HERO
By Scott Cutlip CONTRIBUTING WRITER DEANA HEFFLIN
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“I knew I wanted to be a teacher before I started kindergarten,” Deana He in said. “I played school with my little sister and had her reading by the time she started school.”
He in has followed through on that youthful desire, as she will be starting her 22nd straight year at East Hills Middle School.
He in grew up in Texas and moved to Oklahoma at the age of 10, graduating from Tahlequah High School in 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.
“I wouldn’t change it,” she said. “I love the age group. It’s kind of a turning point for them.”
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is year has been a di erent one for He in and everyone else at Greenwood schools. COVID-19 changed the way students were schooled and will likely have an e ect on teaching for the 2020-2021 school year. He in will be a big part of them, as she will be heavily involved in students using online learning this year. She is looking forward to helping the kids, but she has her own reasons to be happy about the new job: her own son, Jon David, has a congenital heart defect, which makes attending school risky for him. He has had three open heart surgeries, in addition to a recent brain surgery for an abscess believed to be a result of his heart condition.
Her children are the most important things in He in’s life, she said. She has adopted three; Leah, 16, Lucas, 13, and Jon David, 11. He in, who said she wanted to be a mother as long as she wanted to be a teacher, adopted the three a er being a foster parent. In addition to the three at home, she counts Erica Ledford, 33, as her daughter, even though she never formally adopted her. He in began raising Ledford, her niece, when she was two years old and He in had just graduated high school and was attending college. Ledford lives with her husband in Greenwood and works at Stephens Production Company in Fort Smith.
He in and her children are physically active, enjoying the beach, hiking and basketball. She is also a member of First Baptist Church.
Deana He in TEACHER AT EAST HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL
[Photos courtesy of Deana Heffl in]
Greenwood Life
