New Media Specialist Maryann Sullivan sits at her desk in the Clarke Central High School Media Center on Aug. 25. Sullivan has worked as a media specialist in both elementary and middle schools and is making the adjustment to working with high school students. “Of course in high school there is much greater independence for your students. You can just kind of come and go, where in middle school it’s very structured,” Sullivan said. Photo by Elena Gilbertson Hall.
Maryann Sullivan was hired as Clarke Central High School’s media specialist to replace former Media Specialist Kacy Tedder who took a position at Jefferson High School during summer break.
Maryann Sullivan, who recently moved to Georgia after 33 years in Charlotte, North Carolina, took the position as a Clarke Central High School Media Specialist for the 2017-18 school year in order to live closer to work and to serve her own community.
“My dad was a career Air Force man, so I was actually born in England and I’ve lived all over, but the last 33 years I was in Charlotte. I raised my family there, but I moved here because my family migrated to Athens,” Sullivan said. “Clarke Central is only a 10-minute drive from my house and I like the idea that my house is in the school zone of Clarke Central, so I feel like I’m serving my own community.”
Sullivan had years of experience as a social studies teacher in Charlotte, NC, as well as as a media specialist in elementary and middle schools. Her variety of work experience was one of the key factors in her hire.
“Ms. Sullivan was the best of all the people we interviewed,” CCHS Media Specialist Lindy Weaver said. “(The interviewing committee) felt like she would be a good fit for Clarke Central and she has a lot of experience working in a lot of different kinds of schools, so I (thought) it would be really easy for her to fit in. She understands that Clarke Central is a very diverse place and she’s worked in places like that. It was just a good fit.”
Senior Preston Harden, a CCHS Teen Tech Team member who has worked with Sullivan in the Media Center this year, thinks that the Media Center will benefit from her hire.
“I think she is an incredible addition to the school staff and particularly to the staff we have working in the library. I think the school will be more efficient as a result of her hire,” Harden said.
As Sullivan looks to the future, she would like to adapt the Media Center to meet more students’ needs.
“(My goal is) to have, along with Ms. Weaver, a library program that fits the needs of our students here. Our population is very diverse and every student might have a different need. Whether it’s to just finish a high school degree, or college,” Sullivan said. “I’m always thinking about what we can do in our library program to help those students. I think that’s one of my main goals: to think about what can we do to help our students be academically successful to go on past high school.”
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