would be very interesting. That I wouldn’t relate to anything I asked her or it wouldn’t be relevant to my article. Then I asked my first question.
Ms.White was a graduate of UNC Greensboro. She is now in her thirteenth year of teaching. Not only has she taught in North Carolina, or in the United States; But for two years, Ms.White worked as a teacher in Busan, South Korea. “ The ages varied from ages 5 to 17” White told me. That is 7,208 miles from North Carolina to South Korea. That is a big change to Orange High School.
When I asked her why she chose OHS and Hillsborough, as it turns out, she is engaged! Ms.White is getting married on September 27, 2014. Her fiance is a teacher as well. White says she also loves the community. She sees herself teaching the rest of her career. Not just because she loves doing it, but it is also a great balance between family and work.
OHS recently gave out all of the laptops for the ‘14-’15 school year. Since this is Ms.Whites’ first year here, I asked her for her opinion on the laptops. In South Korea, they didn’t have laptops; or in any of her other schools she has taught in. She says she personally likes them. She thinks that they are very useful in the classroom. “ I notice the other side though, with the students and how difficult that they are to work with.” White explains. Most of the other new teachers are not familiar with the laptops or how difficult they are, so I am glad there is someone to help.
For my last question, I asked, “If you weren't teaching, what you be doing?” Ms.White replies, “Traveling and Writing.” For myself, that relates to me. I am in journalism because I love to write. When I get out of college, the first thing I want to do is travel. When I told Ms.White this, she replied very simply, “Do it while you're young, you’ll love it. “ I think that shows how caring of a teacher she is. I can not wait to see what Orange High School has in store for Ms.White.
Mangum has already had experience working with children. “I babysit a lot.” She takes care of her six-year-old brother and a five-year-old child. Ideally, she would like to work with elementary school-age children in the future.
She is already taking two classes at OHS, a teen living and a child development class, to prepare her for her career. Mangum is planning to have children of her own, but she wants to wait until after she is through with high school and most of college. She would like to start having children when she is 20 to 24 years old.
During the summer, Mangum spent her time away from OHS playing baseball with her father and shopping with her mother. Her father, George, plays on a local team, the Destroyers, in his spare time. She also went to Myrtle Beach, where she swam in the ocean and walked on the beach shore.
Mangum feels “good” about her second semester of journalism. “I feel good because I’ve taken it one time.” She is taking the class again because “I like finding out information… Everybody would have their different story if the truth didn’t come out.”
John Claude Bemis, a Hillsborough author and this year’s Piedmont Laureate, spoke to OHS students in the auditorium on April 17 in sessions from 8:45 am to 2:00 pm. Bemis has written four fantasy books for children. He wanted to answer students’ questions about writing and help them “decide what they want to do” in life.
He became a teacher after graduation and taught in North Carolina schools for 13 years. As an adult, he continued to read and write in his free time. Three books in particular- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Holes by Louis Sachar- inspired him to write.
Bemis began writing a novel about American legends set in the 1890s. He named the novel The Nine Pound Hammer and sent it to publishers. Random House accepted the novel and published it in 2009. Since the novel was published, Bemis has also written and published three other books. The Wolf Tree and The White City are the final two books in “The Clockwork Dark” trilogy. The Prince Who Fell from the Sky is a separate book about a post-apocalyptic world where animals reign over Earth and tell stories about the people who used to live there. A human child lands on Earth in a spaceship and is taken in by the animals.
Bemis, who taught at Cameron Park Elementary School for eight years, said that he misses teaching. “I love teaching and I miss the
He said that his schedule is more open now that he is a writer. “I’m in control of my schedule. I get to work at home... I get to do what I really love. I love teaching but I [also] love getting to create stories.” He said that he always dreaded Monday mornings when he was a teacher. He is now excited for Monday mornings because he gets to write again. He takes weekends off. “I don’t work on the weekends.”
Bemis runs workshops for young writers. “I sometimes will teach workshops on coming up with ideas and the important elements in stories. [I’m] really interested in helping people to become more creative [and] use their imaginations in new ways.” He also gave advice for thinking of story ideas. “Find things that you can do that no one else can. What is an idea that no one else can think of that you could think of?”
Aspiring young writers should “read a lot of books and spend time writing... Have fun and just write. Even writing for ten minutes [will help improve your writing because] every minute you put into it is making you a better writer.”
Bemis is currently writing another novel about an “alternate history world where alchemy has made the Venetian Empire powerful.” The people in this world have wooden robots as soldiers. Pinocchio is one of these soldiers and he starts coming to life.
Bemis is the 2013 Piedmont Laureate. Laureates are selected by the Raleigh, Durham County, Wake County, Orange County, and Alamance County arts councils. People chosen by the program “represent the literary community” in the Triangle.
Bemis’ website is http://www.johnclaudebemis.com/. He describes his books in more detail and lists his upcoming appearances.