Hanceville, Alabama is about as far, literally and figuratively, as you can get from Los Angeles, California. Nestled in the Tennessee River Valley, located in old Coal Mining Country, and just up the road from the famous Iron Ore mines of the “Magic City” of Birmingham, Hanceville is a typical Southern town. You can drive down the street from the school to Hanceville Drug and get your ice cream and a Coke from the soda fountain, after a lunch among friends and old men telling stories (undoubtedly exaggerated over time) about the old days at Luna’s Barbeque, before you drop by James Auto Parts for some new spark plugs for your truck and talking with old friends on the barstools at the counter.
This time of year, Hanceville moves slowly during the unbearable Southern heat and humidity, with everyone’s talk focused on two things: Alabama Football, and Hanceville High School Football. During the “Dog Days” (Appropriately named, since Hanceville High School’s mascot is the Bulldogs), anyone associated with the football program will answer the question, “Well, how do WE look this year” hundreds of times. The “WE” is very important. The community of barely over three thousand supports Hanceville High School with a fierceness that rivals anywhere. During the legendary days of the 1980s, when Hanceville High School was making deep runs in the Alabama High School State Football Playoffs, the town of three thousand would triple its population on Friday nights. You can see it as you walk down the halls of Hanceville High School under the watchful eyes of Senior Class photographs dating back over sixty years. You can feel it during those “Dog Days” when the old timers talk about the games from long ago. And you can smell it on the Thursday before the home football opener when the grass get’s its final haircut before its annual fall debut. It is the tradition associated with Hanceville High School, and it has swallowed some and caused others to rise to greatness.
As an assistant football coach, the fan support driving the football program in the small town South, is vitally important to your survival. But as an educator, how do you parlay the enthusiasm associated with football program into a positive reinforcement in the educational realm for students. Aside from the obvious want for students to play football resulting in them having to pass classes to stay eligible, this type of community support cannot simply go to waste in the classroom.
Hanceville has done a good job in harnessing this support in order to give students motivation within the community. Some of the methods that has encouraged education within the community is that community business owners are hiring many Hanceville High School graduates, thus giving students a place to look for employment once they have completed their secondary education. Another way is through community based campaigns such as “I Will” and “Finish Strong” which are encouraging students to finish high school.
Over the next several months, I will speak on several issues associated with the difficulties and perks of teaching and coaching in a small community, and hopefully by the time this blog is done, it will have left some issues that future students can look at to determine if rural education may be for them.
-Kyle Morris
Learn how MAT@USC can prepare you for your Alabama teacher certification by contacting our Admissions office at 888.MAT.1USC or email us at matadmit@usc.edu.
