New Teacher Feature: Burgess Starts at Fayetteville ISD
As a new school year gets underway, we’re profiling a new teacher at all five public school districts in Fayette County. Next in the series is Jessica Burgess who is a new 3rd-grade teacher at Fayetteville ISD.
Jessica (Hatfield) Burgess was proudly born and raised in La Grange and is a 2002 La Grange High School graduate. Her parents own Hatfield Dental and she has three siblings. After graduating high school, Burgess attended Southwest Texas State University, now known as Texas State University. Burgess and her husband Jack have three full-of-life children; Sawyer 7, Slayde 5, and Sayble 1.
Burgess has decided to start her 8th year of teaching at Fayetteville ISD. “I have always kept Fayetteville on my radar in hopes that I would one day teach there. Fayetteville is a very supportive community of their school and they are very proud of their school; they take great (LION) pride in not only the school but the administration, staff, faculty, and students,” said Burgess. “As an educator, you always want that feeling of support knowing that your administration and community care about you and put the interest of the students at heart. It’s an amazing little school, made up of great individuals who are there to help each other out. I’ve witnessed all of this first hand since my first day on the job in early August.”
Burgess added, “I’ve taught at a local private school at the beginning of my career, moved to local, larger public schools to teach and I think I have now found my medium of teaching at a smaller school and a grade level that I’m very interested in.”
As Burgess starts this year at a new school, she is full of mixed emotions. “I’m very excited and ready for this upcoming school year! It’s a stressful job on so many levels and at the beginning of each school year, I always get anxious and nervous.
However, I feel really good about this year. I’ve been trained well in regard to the curriculum over the summer, I’ve got a great support system, and I’m ready to dive into all of it!”
Burgess’ career path to becoming a teacher had some uncertainty at the beginning. “I by no means attended college to become a teacher. I left my college “career” for a brief time to move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to work at a couple of resorts there. While living there, the job was very seasonal, and I had to return home for a few months out of the year. When I came home it was either work for my parents or find something else. I chose something else!” said Burgess. “I began substitute teaching locally and it is there that I found my passion for teaching. I was a substitute teacher for all grade levels, but I quickly found my love for elementary. I went back to finish my degree at Southwest Texas however, it wasn’t in interdisciplinary studies; had I pursued that degree I would have gone over the State of Texas allowed hours and have had to pay out-of-state tuition. So I graduated with a different degree and then pursued my alternative certification. No regrets about any of it!”
Plus, Burgess knows the challenges that come with being a teacher. “Of course, schools will continue to look different this year, but that’s a huge part of being an educator, you have to be flexible and just roll with it! At the end of the day and the end of each school year; it’s honestly the most rewarding and heart whelming job ever!”
Question: What is your favorite movie or TV show?
Answer: “For my favorite show you can give me all of the Dateline shows and/or 48 Hours Mystery episodes and for my favorite movie, I don’t care which month of the year it is I can always watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Question: Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Answer: “100% morning by nature, but our one-year-old has other night plans for me.”
Question: What is your favorite holiday and why?
Answer: Thanksgiving because it’s fall, it’s football, and it’s the holiday to give thanks for all of life’s blessings!”
Question: If you could travel anywhere, name where and why?
Answer: “I’ve traveled out of the country multiple times growing up, but right now, if I could travel anywhere I would love to take my kids to Disney World. They deserve so much fun and happiness after everything we have all been going through within the world right now.”
Question: Name three things you cannot live without.
Answer: “My family, laughter, and Velveeta shell noodles.”
Teaching may not have been her first career choice but in her 8th year of teaching and at a new school and with her overwhelming love for students, Burgess is ready to start this new school year.