By: Nohemi Vallejo
Mrs. Sims is an amazing geography teacher with a strong passion for helping her students succeed. During these difficult times, Mrs. Sims is trying to perfect her art of teaching online like any other of our incredible teachers here at PHS. Mrs. Sims states, “I don’t think I have found the perfect way yet, but it hasn’t stopped me from trying different methods such as calling, texting, encouraging students through Google Classroom messages, and Zooming. Mr. Hurley and I stick with the lessons that have had the most engagement while still trying to break the monotony.”
Mrs. Sims has been in various positions inside and outside of the classroom for over 28 years in education. She loves working in education, but the highlight of her career was working at PHS. On the topic of PHS, her favorite thing is seeing and interacting with the students. Mrs. Sims was very surprised to learn she had been selected as Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Sims humbly states, “PHS has so many great teachers that it was an honor to be voted for this award by my peers.”
From an early age, Mrs. Sims knew she wanted to be a teacher. Someone who influenced her to become a teacher was her mom, Margaret Coleman. She was an educator at PISD. She got to see how rewarding it was for her mom, and she knew she also wanted to be a part of it.
Mrs. Sims will be retiring by the end of this year. She states, “I’m a proud PHS graduate and besides missing the students and my coworkers, I’ll also miss being in the buildings and classrooms where I attended high school. Most of all though, I’ll miss the opportunity to have a proper goodbye with my current and past students.” Mrs. Sims mentions, “My husband and I will be moving to eastern Tennessee at the end of June to see if we like it there. We also have travel plans which include going to Iceland. As a geographer, I hope to travel more and just enjoy life. I also plan to volunteer at the local library system wherever I end up living. Who knows? It could be right back in Pleasanton where it all started.”