Mrs. Hodges, the Apparels teacher at Middle Creek, learned how to sew when she was seven years old. She explains that the thing she loves most about sewing is “that you start out with a flat piece of fabric and then you have a garment that your two hands made.”
She attended college at ECU where she earned her bachelor's degree in Family Consumer Sciences. Afterwards, she got her teaching degree from North Carolina Central University. As a native of New Jersey, she described her experience in North Carolina as a “culture shock” when she first arrived at college. After she started making new friends and hanging out with people, she described her college experience as “amazing” and she said that she “grew a lot.”
After college, she started with teaching Early Child Development, which she did for a long time. She also worked in Corporate America but she said she “was never completely fulfilled” and she “always felt like something was missing.” This was when she started working in the office here at Middle Creek in 2009, waiting for a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher to leave, so she could have the position. When she finally got the job as an Apparels teacher, she said she “remembers going home and just being so excited.”
During her 11th year of teaching, in 2020, the pandemic started. Online school took a toll on a lot of teachers. Mrs. Hodges’ biggest challenge during online school was “that we were sewing,” she says. She also says, “sewing just in general online is not ideal.” She explains how when she was in college, she had to take her sewing classes in person. She said, “all of my other classes were online and once a week, I would drive to Central just to take my sewing class.”
During the beginning of quarantine, she took up many different activities. She learned how to make macramé which she explained is “kind of like friendship bracelets but it’s bigger, like you make plant holders, and now people are making clothing out of it.” She also took up paper quilling and other crafty activities.
Starting up the new school year in person, has helped her a lot with teaching. She loves being an Apparels teacher because getting to see students make projects for her class impresses her and makes her “feel really proud.” She says she “loves being able to see the look on students’ faces when they accomplish something.” Her favorite thing about Middle Creek is “getting to meet new students and getting to connect with them,” and she says, “with all of the different types of students we have, it’s nice to get to know different people.”