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STAFF PHOTO ?* SUSAN U5HR
No More School Books
Summer vacation 's in sight as Union Elementary School students
Andy Herdandez, Jcrmaine Bryant and James Bryant truck away
textbooks last week from Debbie Thorsen's fourth grade classroom
for storage until fall.
Dragon Tale
The village girls of Wantley Wood sing to a visitor about living in the shadow of a fire-breathing monster during the Supply Elementary
School performance of " Dragon Tale." Hugh Brunswick, played by Abdul Green, was magically transported to the mythical town while
preparing for a much-needed vacation. Instead, he becomes the hero who frees the townspeople from their horrible oppressor. The play
was one of many events highlighting the school's "Festival of the Arts n week. Pictured (from left) are Thomas Daley, Gillian Gregson,
Green, Laura Husksns, Ariental Fullwood and Lindsay Wescott.
Teacher Of The Year
Diana Healy Wants Kindergarten To Spark Lifelong Love Of Learning
BY SUSAN USHER
"Mrs. Healy.. .Mrs. Healy..."
Brunswick County's 1994 Teacher of the Year bears
those words "five million times" a day.
That's fine with her, because when Diana Lynn
Causey Healy hears those two words, it means she is in
her element, the classroom, surrounded by 24 young, ea
ger learners.
Healy teaches kindergarten at the same school she at
tended as a kindergartner in Carol Roy croft's class, and
where her mother formerly served as a teacher's aide.
She works alongside fellow professionals who were
once her own teachers, and whose examples helped in
spire her to choose education as a career.
She wants to instill the same kind of fond memories
and love of learning that blossomed early in her, in her
own students.
"I want these children to remember me," she says,
looking out across the playground as three small girls
race in friendly competition across the field during re
cess.
Sometimes something is said or done that affirms
she's in the right place, that what she does is making a
difference.
One particular day she and Teacher Assistant Barbara
Williams overheard a group of students working togeth
er, in deep conversation.
"We were just listening to them," she recalled. "One
was saying, 'Never give up. Mrs. Healy says never give
up if it's hard, to just keep trying.'
"Mrs. Williams and I were almost in tears."
Healy was first chosen Union Elementary School's
Teacher of the Year by fellow faculty members, than
named Brunswick County Teacher of the Year by a com
mittee comprised of retired and current educators, com
munity leaders and * high school sxsissz hrsdsr.
Talk to her co-workcrs, supervisors and moat of all,
her students, and it's readily apparent why the tide is
hers this coming year.
Loving. Caring. Professional. Articulate. Enthusiastic.
Constant. Capable. A leader among her peers, an exem
plary teacher. Those are the words they use to describe
the teacher who will spend the coming year as an advo
cate and role model for her profession ? and for the chil
dren in its daily care.
"I would love to go to as many functions and events
as I can representing teachers, to get the message out,"
she said during a recent classroom interview. "People
need to see teachers, to understand that we are advocates
for children."
KINDERGARTEN means hands-on involvement in everything from blue paint to chocolate icing for
Diana Heafy, Brunswick County's 1994 Tkacher of the Year, and her Union Elementary students. Here
she takes dictation as a student creates a poster about himself , an end-of-school protect.
As Teacher of the Year Healy is especially proud to
claim herself as a product of the Brunswick County
Schools. "That should say something for our schools,"
she says.
At Union this year she accepted the challenging, but
rewarding role of leading the school's improvement
planning process, drawing upon team-building skills and
knowledge gamed through participation in numerous
staff development events.
With the move toward site-baaed management, she
says, she and other teachers are striving to learn new
skills and to capitalize on individual strengths by plan
ning together and sharing ideas, working is bccorac
more cooperative than competitive, and to assume deci
sion-making and leadership roles that were never a part
of their teacher education or expectations.
At Union, the faculty "is together as a team," she
says. "And if you look in classrooms you'll sec some
great things happening."
She points to her school T-shirt and its motto. "We re
ally are 'united for everyone's success.' I want for
Union to seen as one of die top schools in the county
and in the state."
After graduating from West Brunswick High School
in 1966, Healy earned her bachelor of arts degree from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She
taught first gnde one year in Georgetown, S.C., and be
gan work on her master's degree at the College of
Charleston. She and her husband Mitchell then moved to
Shallotte Point, and she's taught kindergarten at Union
Elementary the past three years.
Her former high school social studies teach er wbu is
now Healy 's boas. Principal Zelphia Grissett wasn't sur
prised to see her named Teacher of the Year.
Tiu mi piuuu of her. First at her decision to teach,
and then to see her growth. To have her here on my staff
has been wonderful," said Grissett.
"I had no doubt she was going all the way; she'll be
stiff competition at the next level too. I think she will be
able to master anything she sets her head and heart to
master. She is an excellent, all-around teacher."
Healy's classroom is warm, inviting, friendly, says
Grissett, and students "act like they are a little family
there, a community of learners."
That's exactly the environment Healy has strived to
create. As a kindergarten teacher she sees herself as a fa
cilitator and a role model. She focuses on building up
her young charges into confident, independent individu
als who like who they are becoming, enjoy working to
gether and enjoy learning.
Her teaching style is "firm, but loving," generous
with praise and cncuuiagcmcm, ccicbraiuiy w gains
however small.
"From the first day they come into the school til now
it's amazing. You see so many gains socially and acade
mically. They are so eager to learn and so accepting of
praise. It's amazing. 1T?ey absorb so much and they
don't even realize it."
"I feel like they all need to be active. I think they need
to feel good about themselves, because then they will try
anything and do anything. That's what kindergarten is
about; it's a readiness year," said Healy.
She asks parents if their child is happy, for good rea
son. "If they don't have an exciting, wonderful and hap
py year in kindergarten it would be a detriment. If they
enjoy kindergarten and get excited about learning,
they'll enjoy the other grades."
In keeping with her philosophy, each week she high
lights the life of one "Star Student," who has special du
ties that week. Students learn about their classmate and
write stories and publish a "book" for him or her.
A weekly newsletter from Healy keeps parents up to
date, reviewing the past week and dismissing upcoming
activities.
As a student Healy was "a little mischievous,"
Grissett recalls, but that may have its advantages. "I
think she can enjoy the ones who are a little different.
They have such personalities; she brings oat the best in
each of them."
It is her students, though, who offer the best testimo
ny as to why Diana Healy is Brunswick County's newest
Teacher of the Year.
Alex White thinks she's tops "because she lets us
make stuff, like these hats (hand-decorated plastic visors
to wear the last day of school). We had to paint and
write our names."
She's also a good teacher, says Avery De Berry, "cause
she's real, real nice to us," and because, says Octavia
Gause, "we raise our hands and she lets us answer and
she puts it on the board."
Robby Icard summed up the situation best for himself
and 23 classmates. Asked why Mn. Healy was a good
teacher, he replied thoughtfully, "Because I love her... be
cause she loves me."
A Month For The Whelks
BY BILL FAVER
Twice cach yea t autnc of the wheiks off our coast
begin laying egg strings. Ws can find item washed
ashore along the high tide line. On careful examination.
the presence of miniature whelks is
revealed in each of the many
capsules in the egg string.
Several yean ago I watched a
whelk confined to our aquarium as
she worked through the process of
laying an egg string Her effort
lasted about ten days and the string
was perfect, though none of the
capsules "hatched" in the aquarium.
Wheiks form egg capsules in the
"capsule gland" one at a time and
pass them down to the foot. There the "pedal gland"
attaches them to the string for laying. The first ten or
more capsules arc small and contain no eggs. These are
used by the whelk for attaching the string to the bottom
FAVtt
of the sea as an anchor.
I ne size in ihc egg siting vaiica with ihc sue and
species of the female whelk. Egg strings can have 60 or
70 capsules, each containing 100 or more eggs.
Capsules can be formed by the female at the rale of one
every two hours. If the whelk is not disturbed and the
capsule formation is continuous, the female whelk will
spend about a month each year and a lot of energy
laying her egg strings.
Laying usually takes place in April and May and in
September and October. It is not known whether the
same female will lay at both times or why one time is
chosen over another.
Watch for the whelk egg strings along the beach and
take time to investigate the small animals inside. You
will be amazed at the size and development of the
young whelks and may appreciate the month the
female spent laying the egg string.
You may also learn a little more about the exciting
life of the animals sharing the beaches with us.