Haleigh Regal is a Millersville Senior studying Elementary and Special Education. She is 21 years old and from Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Ever since she was young, Haleigh knew she wanted to be a teacher. She has always had an interest in working with young children, and she hopes to make a difference in the lives of our future generations. Throughout her time at Millersville, Haleigh has volunteered in schools across the Lancaster area, including: Lancaster City, Lebanon, and York. She is also a club member of the Council for Exceptional Children, that works with individuals with disalities throughout the community. Some of her interests include hiking, painting, drawing, and photography, all of which are practices she would like to incorporate into her future teaching practices.
Haleigh plans to graduate in the fall of 2017. Post-graduation, she wants to teach in a rural school, preferably preschool or kindergarten age, but she is willing to expand her range upon given opportunities. Something that makes Haleigh unique is that she had the opporutnity to teach children at an integrated school in Northern Ireland during the summer of 2015. She also presented at a conference in London following her time in Ireland. She spoke about the role of gender in the public education system. Haleigh believes that “all children are capable of success, given the appropriate opportunities and resources.”
Fun Question: What has been your favorite memory so far when volunteering in various elementary school classrooms?
The first day of my placement in a learning support classroom , my teacher asked me to work with this one student who is very reistiant to change. He put his head down and cried the whole time I worked with him. He wouldn’t even speak to me. As the days went on he started warming up. He began initiating coversations with me and asking for my help during class. My last week there, his teacher told him I was not going to be there anymore and he literally yelled, “NO, I do not want her to leave!” All of the other kids wanted me to stay with them as well. This is one of the reasons why I want to teach. I want to make a difference in the lives of these students and build lifelong relationships with them along the way, even if there is a rocky start.