Select students from colleges around the area have come to HHS to get real-life experience teaching. One such practicum is JMU student Rachel Barton, the practicum for history teacher Marc Healy. She decided to be a teacher because of AP European History, a class Healy teaches.

“My senior year in high school, [I decided I wanted to be a teacher] during my AP Euro class. My AP Euro teacher went to James Madison too, which is where I go, and it was a really great class; it was a small class and we had a great time. I already liked history, so I knew I wanted to do something with that,” Barton said.

Being a practicum teacher is a required class at JMU for people working on a degree in teaching. Along with practicum, Barton is also taking three other classes. Barton is currently working on her Masters degree and plans to graduate in May of 2019.

“I’m in a class for differentiation which is basically learning how to make classes work for everyone, so making the work different for everyone. I’m in a research methods class and then I’m in a methods class, which is a companion class to [practicum],” Barton said.

Although Barton wants to continue her education in history after graduating, she has thought about where she would like to teach in the future.

“I’m currently thinking about going on and getting an advanced degree in history, but if I wanted to teach, I really like Harrisonburg, but I really like bigger cities,” Barton said. “If I wanted to teach in this area, I’d want to teach in the Harrisonburg City Schools, but If I didn’t get a job here I would want to go somewhere like D.C.”

Along with being a teacher, Barton also expressed interest in being part of the athletic community at a high school because of her previous involvement with high school sports.

“I played Softball in high school, so one of the things I want to do, if I teach, is maybe coach softball for a school,” Barton said.