By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Jaici Simon, reading and language arts teacher at Hays Middle School, might only be in her second year as a teacher, but she has a passion for her students and her profession.

Simon was nominated for the Hays Post September Teacher of the Month by student Taylor Freed, who said, “I would like to nominate Mrs. Simon because she teaches in a way that makes the subject easy to understand. I also feel she is patient and easy to talk to if I have questions.”

Simon is a Hays native. She attended Kennedy Middle School, Hays High School, and earned her teaching and English degrees from Fort Hays State University.

Simon’s mother encouraged her to enter the teaching profession.

“She reminded me when I was in college, I did really love to read and I love to learn and that is the way I explored the world and learned about the world,” Simon said.

She said she was also encouraged by the examples of some amazing teachers in USD 489.

One of those teachers was reading teacher Misti Norris, who still works at HMS.

“She has always been a positive and uplifting person,” Simon said. “She has a huge passion for English and for reading, especially. She tries to help find kids their kind of book and encourage them to read.”

At HHS, Diane Mason influenced Simon.

“She challenged me to think beyond the words on the page,” Simon said. “She always challenges her kids to analyze beyond just what is present and look beyond characters’ decisions. She is incredibly positive as well.”

Kathy Wagoner was Simon’s mentor as a student teacher, and she said Wagoner prepared her for her career as a teacher.

“She taught me to write properly and for English comp exams and what I should expect when I went to college. She was a very positive figure in my life — she still is to this day,” Simon said. “She is a role model to me, and I hope I can be as half as good an English teacher as she is.”

Just like millions of other kids, Simon loved J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series when she was a middle school student. She envisioned herself as Hermione Granger on adventures with Harry and Ron Weasley at the infamous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“She grows a lot throughout the series,” Simon said of the Granger character. “She is also not afraid to be who she is, and I think that is very admirable.”

She said she was also inspired by the “Diary of Anne Frank,” which she read in the seventh grade.

“I have always been fascinated about learning more about history,” Simon said, “and how literature and history are very interwoven with one another.”

Often, history is told through history books, but the “Diary of Anne Frank” is told through the eyes of a teenage girl.

“It makes that experience more real,” she said, “especially when reading it when you are her age. You imagine walking beside this person who went through so much and experienced a lot of trials and tribulations. … It made me think a lot about how blessed I was to have the childhood that I did have.”

Simon said her No. 1 goal as a teacher is for her students to feel her classroom is a safe place.

“I want them to feel no matter where they are in life, no matter who they are, they can come here and feel safe and cared for,” she said.

She also wants her students to find a love of reading and writing, even if it is not their favorite subject.

“I want them to learn more about the world,” Simon said. “I want them to be able to ask tough questions and not be nervous or scared because it is important for us to grow as humans to ask those tough questions—for us to be able to learn in an environment that is safe and comforting—and to reach beyond our comfort zones to learn more about who we are.”

Other adults might be intimated by the pre-teen crowd — not Simon. Her favorite aspect of teaching is the kids.

“It is a time of learning who you are and what you like and who you are going to be for the rest of your life,” she said. “I love the kids. I think they are at a great age. They are trying to figure things out. I like that about this age.”

Simon also coaches cheerleading at HMS. She has been a dancer since she was 6 at Jackie Creamer’s Vision Dance Company and was a member of the dance team at HHS.

“I think kids need an outlet outside of school,” she said, “because kids come to school and they work so hard and they try and they are successful, but it takes a lot of brain power and it takes a lot of dedication. I think in a coaching capacity, coaches are able to connect with kids on a different level— being able to exercise, being able to do a physical activity where they are out of their seats. …”

“I think it creates a special bond between the kids and the coach.”

As a young teacher, Simon said she hopes to continue to grow.

“I never want to become a teacher who becomes stagnant or who doesn’t have a goal in mind each school year,” she said. “I know there will always be some area in which I need to grow.”

Simon said she was shocked she was nominated for Teacher of the Month, because there are so many great teachers in Hays.

“And to have a student nominate me was incredibly special and makes me feel like I am right where I am supposed to be,” she said. “I am with the right age. I am in the right school district. I’m where I need to be.”

Submit your nomination for Hays Post’s Teacher of the Month honor!