Italy to Grantham
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 11, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Hannah Grantham helps third-grader Jasiya McDaniel with a drawing activity Wednesday at Grantham Elementary School. While in college, she studied abroad in Italy. She was hired in the fall to teach kindergarten through fourth grade art, replacing the now-retired art teacher she had as a student at the school.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ms. Grantham leads a third-grade art class in a drawing activity.
Hannah Grantham has had a few "dream come true" moments in recent years.
Studying art in Italy as a student.
Returning there after graduation to work.
Getting hired at her former elementary school as an art teacher.
It has been a fun ride, she says.
After graduating from Southern Wayne High School in 2010, she headed to East Carolina University intending to become a teacher.
Her penchant for art, though, quickly derailed that plan.
"I got into the art courses, got really interested in ceramics and dropped education," she said.
Before completing her degree in fine arts, with a concentration in ceramics in 2014, she learned about an opportunity to study abroad. During her junior year, she participated in ECU's Italy Intensives, a three-and-one-half-month program.
"It was mostly art classes but they also offered other classes," she said. "It was really awesome. The instructors were all knowledgeable. We were also able to go through the museums and learn about art history."
She said she fell in love with the culture of Italy and the people of Certaldo, the Tuscan village where she lived. So after graduation, when the opportunity presented itself to return on staff in the same program, she jumped at the chance.
"I couldn't believe it at first," she says now. "It was like a dream of mine just fell into my lap.
"My official title was student life and residence assistant. My primary role was to act as a liaison between the staff, students and lodgings owners."
She was on the other side of things, planning outings and providing encouragement for the students to enjoy the experience as much as she had.
"The second trip wasn't quite as amazing as the magic of seeing everything for the first time and being on a three-month-long adventure in Europe at 20 years old," she admitted. "However, it was really cool to be able to share everything I had learned with a new group of students and take them to all the best places and make sure their experience was the best it could be.
"And I gained a new appreciation for everything that the staff had done for us on my first trip."
The idea of being a teacher resurfaced, with her being hired as K-4 art teacher at Grantham Elementary School this past fall. Since she had not completed her education requirements in college, she entered the profession through the lateral entry program, requiring her to take the necessary classes while on the job.
"I didn't really know where I wanted to start out," she said. "Originally I was thinking I would want to teach in high school. I still would consider that."
The elementary position was the one that was open when she applied. Since she had once been a student there, though, it held an appeal.
"This being my home school and close to my home, I knew I would be saving a lot of money living close to home and this is a community that knew me," she said.
There was another ironic twist to the role she now holds, she says.
Gail Minchew, the school's former art teacher who retired last year, had once been Miss Grantham's teacher.
"She was my teacher, so that was kind of trippy," Miss Grantham said with a laugh. "I have gone through the school and now I'm taking my teacher's place."
In a way, though, it was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy on Ms. Minchew's part.
"She was working with my mom at the time, joking around, 'If Hannah wants to fill in for me,' that kind of spurred me on to look into it (the job)," Miss Grantham said.
Her mother, Dianne Grantham, is now at Grantham Middle School; dad, John Grantham, is a former member of the Wayne County Board of Education.
In her first year of teaching, Miss Grantham said she is learning a lot, about lesson planning and from other art teachers in the district.
"I try to go back and forth between teaching about styles of famous artists and things that are more relevant to what the kids are learning in school," she said, explaining how she incorporates art into the subjects her students are taking. "I'm still learning how to do that but I'm trying to make it more well-rounded."
Her favorite aspect of the job, she says, is the students themselves.
"I think that the best part is the kids, especially the ones who really love my class," she said. "They come up and bring me drawings. I probably get 10 a week.
"And hugs. That's one of the things about elementary grades. They're not too shy to come up and tell you that appreciate you."
Two of her most influential teachers, she said, were Mary Ann Barwick and Andy Sullivan. She recently got to collaborate with Mrs. Barwick, inviting the now-retired educator to the class to lead a lesson.
The experience of being an educator has been a good one so far, Miss Grantham said.
"I think that it's made me appreciate all my teachers a lot more, just seeing the other side of it," she said. "Not really realizing how much work that they do and how much planning goes into everything, I didn't think about that as a kid or in high school, really.
"It's made me appreciate teachers and realize it's a lot of hard work. You have to be really devoted to it. It's been a hard first year but it's been a lot of learning. I feel like I'm still learning every day."