Staff spotlight: Ms. Wills

Article by Hali Coombs

…She shares this love in everything she does…

Jamie Wills is a tenth-grade literature teacher as well as the head coach of the Speech and Debate team at Cherokee High School.

Known for her love of public speaking, she shares this love in everything she does, even if her sophomores are not as eager to write a speech and she wishes them to be. She believes that having public speaking skills are very important for making it out there in life, so she wishes for her students to gain those skill in high school so it can help them just as it helped her through her life.

This is why Mrs. Wills is the coach of Cherokee’s award-winning Speech and Debate team. Starting from the ground up, Mrs. Wills has helped her students on the team achieve their goals and send them off into the world fully prepared for whatever trial they might face. It’s not only her team that’s winning awards. Mrs. Wills has won many awards herself, including NSDA District Coach of the Year, GFCA Debate Coach of the Year, and was even a finalist for the NSDA National Educator of The Year Award. (Making her one of the top five Speech and Debate Educators in America!)

Back in Cherokee, she has a passion for teaching after watching her own teachers in Indiana. She states that “These individuals [her teachers] inspired me to teach and make a difference in the lives of students just as they had done in my life.” She was on her own high school’s Speech and Debate team and it has changed her life. She learned great communication skills on her Indiana team and she says that Speech and Debate has helped through her college life and into the real world.

Mrs. Wills has joined Cherokee High School’s staff because this is the high school her own children will be attending in the future. She felt like it was important that she invested into her own community, and give back to the school that will soon being giving her children their education. Mrs. Wills is even supporting her students who are currently setting up a Speech and Debate team at Teasley Middle School.

Overall, Mrs. Wills is a very passionate teacher and willing to do help her students in anyway possible. She’s teaching the future’s next teachers, communicators, and leaders, and with her work, and many like her, the world can be a better place for everyone.

A fun fact that comes as no surprise to her students; her favorite food is chocolate.