We spend a whole year with our teachers, but how much do we honestly know about them. You may know the simple things, but not much about your teacher’s lives and thoughts, but it is great to really get to know who they are. One teacher who will tell her students anything they ask is Dr. Cutts. I got an opportunity to talk to her and get to know her. Here is some things I learned:  

How long have you been teaching? 

This is currently my 16th year. 

What other schools have you worked at?

I have worked in Colquitt County High School for 13 years and then I came here going on 3 years ago.

What subjects have you taught? 

Only math. I have taught several different types of math. I’ve taught AP Statistics, Honors Pre-Calculus, Dual Enrollment, several things for College Algebra, College Trig, College Calculus, Collage Statistics, Honors Algebra 2, Regular Algebra 2, Algebra 1, Math 2, Math 3, Math 4, Geometry, Honors Geometry, AMDS, and Statistical Reasoning. 

What made you decide to come to MC? 

Well, okay, this is kind of a long story, but I was born in Colquitt County and my husband moved there in middle school. My husband wanted to go back and teach there and I did not, so it took us about 13 years for me to convince him to get out. This county was nice and close to Athens and UGA. It had an opening for both me and my husband; he is a PE teacher. I came and interviewed; I felt good about it, and it felt like home. My kids go to Danielsville. We just love it.

What’s your favorite thing about teaching? 

The students. Just building a relationship with students. I could care less for some of the other things that teachers have to deal with, but I am here for the student because I am definitely not here for the money that’s for sure. 

Did you always know you wanted to be a teacher? 

Well my mom taught school for 34 years and she tried to encourage me not to go into education just because the pay is not the best; everybody knows that. But I started off in finance and accounting, so I was good at math. There were several things that I thought about: engineering, but I also tutored in a math lab at college. I just felt God honestly calling on my heart saying that you have a way with explaining things, and I just love seeing people succeed and progress in their knowledge. I knew it was God’s calling to sum that up.  

What are your goals for the future? 

That’s a good one. Well I already have my doctorate degree. It’s in curriculum and instruction and I have a leadership certification, so I could see myself doing something in the leadership realm or working for the Board of Education doing something with curriculum. I have always been on the fence with it because I love students, and it’s really hard because I don’t want to lose that relationship with them. It’s difficult for me because that is the main reason I do what I do. I could see that because actually this year it’s funny because I am at a mid-career crisis ’cause I am halfway done and I am thinking “Do I want to do anything else?” since I have done all these career things. I could also see myself working at a college to be like a Professor, so I don’t know — time will tell because God has me where he wants me right now.

What’s something about you that may surprise your students? 

I am a pretty open book when it comes to my students. If they ask me something I don’t mind telling them anything. There is probably nothing that they don’t already know.

What is something that you want students to know about you? 

I always tell the students every year that in order for me to, I feel, to get respect that they have to know that I respect them. I feel like a lot of students feel like they don’t have a voice and that they are kind of unheard. I don’t want anyone to feel that way; I want them to know that they should feel comfortable here and it’s a loving environment. I hope they can take with them that after high school they can be anything they want to be. It sounds cliché, but once they find kind of their passion then they are going to be able to accomplish that because it’s going to be something they care about. I just want them to know they can achieve anything.  

If you could go back and give your high school self advice, what would you say? 

To be more confident. I kind of had, you know, my things that I did that I really felt like I lacked confidence in, and it probably wasn’t until the past 10 years where I have gained that confidence to set out and do the things that I feel like could do. I would have been involved more in things. Like I really got into working out, exercising and sports in college just because I wasn’t exposed to it too much in high school. I think the confidence issue is the biggest. Just feeling confident and being secure in yourself and loving yourself and knowing that you can try anything.