HOTH: Nena McConnell- Faculty

“I wanna see students go on after graduation and not necessarily do something with art, but use the skills or whatever they’ve learned in here and be able to use it in life. This is my 14th year teaching art. I came to Buford because I wanted to build up a program and have consistency with students so I started looking into high school instead of middle, and when I interviewed here, it seemed like a perfect fit. It was a smaller school, and they wanted to build up their program. Coming in after that virtual teacher, I feel like a shining star right now even though I don’t think personally that I’m doing a fabulous job… but coming in following that, I look like I’m doing okay so… yay! Buford’s awesome. I’m not used to giving directions one time and kids doing an amazing job without needing me to hold their hands through it all. Most recently, I was teaching middle school. I had six classes a day, 30 or more kids in each class. They were great, but it was just not consistent, like I’d see a kid in sixth grade and never see them again, or I might not see a kid until 8th grade that hasn’t had art since 5th, so there was a lot of gaps in skill. They did work hard, it was just a whole lot in a day.”