Alumni

Sarah Alford Ballard                 

MA, 2003   

My time in the Southern Studies Program at the University of Mississippi was a
roundabout way of finding home, which turned out to be a high school classroom. Teaching is a calling I fought for awhile, but the Southern Studies Program was the deciding factor. Before graduating with that master’s degree, I had already applied to the Mississippi Teachers Corp with intentions of teaching in the Delta. I taught in Belzoni for two years and ended up loving the profession as well as becoming passionate about the state of education in Mississippi’s public schools. I am now in Jackson, Mississippi, in the middle of my fifth year of teaching high-school English. My Southern Studies degree has affected my teaching in countless ways; for example, today I am working with the William Winter Institute of Racial Reconciliation to create and implement a Civil Rights Curriculum for Mississippi public schools, kindergarten through 12th grade. My husband and I love living in Jackson, and he does not mind being dragged to Murrah High School’s football games, dances, and fundraisers . . . so goes the life of a teacher. Go Mustangs!