Former UACCB Student Educates Others
By Karla Rush – UACCB Freelance Writer
BATESVILLE – For Paige Presley, getting her education has been a rewarding but challenging process from student to teacher and then again from student back to teacher.
Presley graduated from Batesville High School and enrolled at University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville in 2005. She says she “was comfortable at UACCB because everyone was helpful.” Originally, Paige only planned to take one semester to ‘get her feet wet’ in higher education and then transfer on to a bigger university.
However, as Paige began to settle in as a student at UACCB, she decided to continue working on her associate’s degree and stay near home where she already had part time work to help supplement the cost of going to school. She said, “I wasn’t quite ready to move away from home and I really liked UACCB.”
She said UACCB provided a very good learning environment and she liked the feel of the campus, the instructors and the other students.
In 2007, Presley completed her associate of arts degree and successfully transferred to Lyon College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She said she always liked math and decided to challenge herself by staying in the classroom, but this time as a teacher. She was hired to teach at Jonesboro Public Schools.
While Paige taught math in Jonesboro, she returned to the classroom to advance her own education and received her master’s degree in mathematics from Arkansas State University. She now teaches at Stuttgart High School and is applying some innovative learning strategies in her secondary education classroom.
Becoming a teacher has been a healthy challenge for Paige and she is enjoying her career. One of her favorite classes to teach is Algebra. She said, “I try to provide a classroom learning environment where my students can discover solutions on their own. I find if I can motivate them to seek answers to the Algebra problems, their self-confidence grows and they actually enjoy math.”
Paige is thankful her educational journey included UACCB and says she felt very confident when she transferred that she was well prepared to accomplish her goals in teaching. She reflectively said, “It’s nice at UACCB because the people who work there really do care about your future.”
In addition to the transfer program Paige completed, UACCB offers several other educational pathways in business, computer technology, health care and nursing, teacher education, industrial technology, and aviation maintenance. Classes for the upcoming fall semester begin on August 20 with registration ending on August 17. For more information about the academic programs and financial aid available at UACCB, call 870-612-2000.
