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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 18 Aug 2009.
Back 2 School: Home, sweet home at Caton's Chapel
By STAN VOIT
svoit@themountainpress.com
SEVIERVILLE - Veronica Hardin has come back home.
The veteran Sevier County teacher not only is back in the school where her grandparents taught, but she could walk to school every day if she wanted to.
Hardin has a fourth-grade class at Caton's Chapel Elementary, after 14 years teaching sixth- and seventh-graders at Pigeon Forge Middle School. But if you expected her to be any different standing before 10-year-olds as she was teaching teenagers, you'd be wrong.
"If you saw me last year on the first day of school, you'd see me just as excited as I am this year," she said.
Hardin's grandfather, Freeman Maples, was principal at Caton's Chapel, and her grandmother, Kate, was a third-grade teacher at the school. Her parents were teachers in Sevier County, and her brother, Scott Hensley, was assistant principal at Caton's Chapel until this year when he moved to Pi Beta Phi. Hardin's three children attend Caton's Chapel.
Hardin wanted a new challenge and asked for the transfer.
"You can get a little stale teaching the same thing year after year," she said.
Hardin didn't have far to go Monday morning. She lives on her grandparents' farm just down the road from the school.
Principal Bill Hatcher opened his 25th year at the helm of Caton's Chapel on Monday. He thinks enrollment will be up, and he also has to implement some new testing and academic programs this year. There are new standards his students - and all others across the state - have to meet to be ready for a more challenging high school experience awaiting them.
"We've got to do what we have to do to get the students ready," Hatcher said.
He spent much of his morning walking the halls, answering questions, greeting parents and solving little problems that cropped up. Wearing a tie and short-sleeved shirt, he is an imposing figure among children as young as pre-K age.
"I always get a thrill out of the first day of school," he said.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
HARDIN TIMOTHY J VERONICA R NOT GIVEN SEVIER 01-22-1992 03526
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