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DEL.ICIO.USHonoring a natural
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Her classroom looked like a veteran’s, not like a rookie’s.
Teachers at Level Creek Elementary School were impressed. But if they’d known Lindsay Hammon as a child, they would have known to expect it.
“From the time she was a little girl, her favorite play activity was teaching,” said Linda Hammon, her mom. “If her students weren’t real people, she’d use whatever she could find. Everyone who saw her in action thought she was the best. Teaching was a natural progression for her.”
Lindsay started baby-sitting at a young age. She taught preschool classes for several years at Snellville United Methodist Church. The 2002 South Gwinnett High grad studied early childhood education at the University of Georgia, graduating magna cum laude. Last year, she was hired to teach kindergarten at Suwanee’s Level Creek. Fit right in.
“Her enthusiasm was contagious,” teacher Sandy Bass said. “Her love for children was infectious.”
Lindsay spent the summer of 2006 preparing her classroom - buying supplies, decorating, organizing. In one corner, she placed a large red and black wooden stagecoach. “The Reading Express,” she called it.
“She had fabulous materials and a sense of organization that you would expect from someone who’d been teaching many, many years,” Hammon told me.
The first day of school was Aug. 14, 2006. That morning, Lindsay was in the bathroom. Her fiance’ heard what sounded like the thump of a body hitting the floor. At 22, her heart had stopped. The probable cause of death was ruled as idiopathic cardiac dysrhythmia.
“They tried to make a determination,” said Hammon, a paraprofessional at Grayson Elementary. “But that’s their best guess. She had been a healthy, vibrant girl. She had not been in pain or had any problems.
“We don’t have a complete explanation, except that it was her time.”
The Level Creek staff had planned to designate an area on the playground in their colleague’s memory. They’d wanted to install picnic tables, erect a bronze plaque and plant trees. The drought squashed those plans. Fortunately, a secondary entrance on campus already had crape myrtle trees. It was an ideal spot for tables, benches, learning, reflection.
“We pass it every day coming into school,” Principal Nancy Kiel said. “Lindsay was such a bright light and inspiration. Each day as we walk in, this will help us frame our day, get back to what is important.”
At 4 p.m. today, Level Creek will host a ceremony to unveil the Lindsay Nicole Hammon Memorial Outdoor Classroom. It has four handmade stone tables and three benches. The “teacher bench” is topped with stained glass and has a granite plaque with an inscription chosen by Lindsay’s mother.
“Children, teaching, laughter and love were in her heart,” it states. “Now and forever, we hold her in ours.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
Comments
By Kruschev's Father
May 18, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this
Teachers are human beings, not teaching machines. I’ll never believe that there’s bad teachers. There are teachers who have been burned by principals and other administrators, and who hold grudges, and who are so distracted by the intrigues of the education system that they dont always perform at their best, but there are no bad teachers.
I think teachers should have a day named after them. Teacher’s Day. And it should be a day off for everyone. Teacher’s Day.
Teacher’s Day. Bring apples.
By jimmy
May 18, 2008 6:44 PM | Link to this
Something does not add up here, Lindsay was a 1992 graduate of South Gwinnett High School and died in 1996 while being a teacher at Level Creek Elementary School.
It takes about four years, perhaps five to earn a college degree.
That means she should have graduated in 1996 or 1997. If that is the case, she had about a decade of experience teaching.
If it is not the case, she must of tried some other career before entering teaching.
My point is this, she either was not an inexperienced teacher but one that had many years of experience to hone her skills. Or, this life-long love of teaching was something she fullfilled after trying her hand at something else.
My sympathy goes out to her family and fiance and I admire the desire of Level Creek Elementary to honor Lindsay Hammond but there is something about this story that does not ring true.
By CT
May 18, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this
Jimmy, does it matter? What difference does it make if she pursued another path for a couple years?
You’re a conspiracy theorist, right? I love conspiracy theorists. I’m serious. What do you think about LT and Agitater on the last blog? I can’t wait to see how it plays out. I’ve already popped a bag of popcorn. Do you think Ag really knows LT? Who’s bluffing?
By Cindy
May 18, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this
Better yet, who cares. If LT gets his job done better because he takes a two minute break ever so often to check the internet, more power to him.
If Agitater does know who he is, so what, chances are he/she already knows how LT is…so why bother picking at him?
Will it change him? Would we want him to change? We obviously value LT’s contributions for what they are…which are usually pretty good except when he gets really vulgar (LT, you really can get extreme at times…I for one don’t need my mentality challenged in that way, but I can only speak for myself here.) or we wouldn’t bother to check this blog…we’d simply avoid it.
Nobody on here validates me as a person…what’s said doesn’t define me nor does it make me have delusions of grandeur and certainly doesn’t make me feel inferior.
It’s a blog. Nothing more. Nothing less.
By CT
May 19, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this
Cindy—-We obviously value LT’s contributions for what they are
You must be joking. Nobody, except you, I suppose, tunes into this blog to read LT’s rants. He’s disturbed and he has a disturbing fixation on Rick. Besides that, he’s a broken record and has not contributed an original thought in a very long time. The fact that you align yourself with him diminishes your credibility significantly.
As for your assertion that you do not need validation on the blog——weren’t you the one that whined when someone mentioned that you seemed young?
By Sandy_G
May 19, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this
Stories like this are a reminder that we don’t know how long we have in this life so it’s important to live every day as if it could be your last. Remember to be generous with your affection for loved ones. Never let your last words to someone headed out the door be harsh or dismissive because it could be the last time you ever get the chance to talk to them.
This young woman probably made more of her short life and made more of a difference in the lives of others than a lot of us will in our entire lives. Our impact on others is the main purpose of living, not self indulgence or our own pleasure. The most fulfilled and happy people I know are the ones who give of themselves to others. If your life is centered primarily on yourself and your own needs and desires, when you’re you’ll leave behind not much more than a pile of material possessions. If you live your life centered on the needs of others, you leave behind changed lives and people inspired to continue the chain of giving into other lives.
Thanks Rick. We cannot be reminded enough of our own mortality and the need to live our lives in such a way that we leave behind a legacy for those that remain.
By LT5000
May 19, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this
CTeabag,
If anyone is a broken record around here is Badie. He writes the same blogs every 2-3 months.
I come to this blog to set the facts straight. What Badie performs on a daily basis is journalistic incompetence.
I would suggest you dust off that GED and go back and read my posts. Always chock full of useful factual information. Unlike Badie’s Obama infomercials.
By the way, don’t worry about me. Your life partner, F*gittater, doesn’t know who I am.
LT5000
By Cindy
May 19, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Yep that was me. Just like you’re whining about me whining.
BTW…value…the worth we put on something…we value LT’s comments for what they are…does that sound like alignment to you? If so, perhaps you need to sharpen up your reader comprehension skills instead of fixating on me. I’m not your chump, so don’t bother trying to flame me to make your Monday morning a little brighter.
I never said I tune in to the blogs to read LT’s posts. So don’t try to take the context of what I say and twist it to what you want it to say. It just doesn’t work that way. Use your own thoughts and ideas, and tend to your own business…You’ll find that’s a full time job all on it’s own.
I got me…you handle you.
By CT
May 19, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
You’re not my chump, Cindy. You are LT’s. First you defend him, then you try to distance yourself. It’s like a mating dance. Enjoy yourself!
By Cindy
May 19, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
Lt says rude things. That’s a fact. However, I don’t confuse blogging with real life. Actually, if you can get through his ranting, he has some good stuff to say. I’m nobody’s chump. I can just see through bs to what’s really there. Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not. Just part of life.
I’m not here to defend or ally myself with anyone. Thinking that was your mistake. Taking a persons kindness for a weakness was another.
If you find this productive, then by all means, jab at me all day. Otherwise, redirect yourself and I shall do the same. The ball is in your court.
By CT
May 19, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
I don’t consider your kindness to LT a weakness, Cindy. I consider it to be your fatal flaw.
It’s cute the way he defends your honor.
By Cindy
May 19, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this
Couldn’t take the high, less traveled road, huh?
By LT5000
May 19, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this
Cindy,
A classless dope like CT doesn’t deserve courtesy or respect.
He’s about 1 notch about Aggitatter. Just another a**wipe who contributes nothing.
LT5000
By CT
May 19, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this
Oh, please. You lost any claim to high moral ground when you climbed into the blogbed with LT.
Bet you can’t let me have the final word!
By Chris
May 19, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
Let me chime in the middle here to say “Good Story” ok, now back to our regular programming.
By Agi
May 19, 2008 6:59 PM | Link to this
Still here LT5000. See you haven’t forgot me.
By Booty Call
May 19, 2008 7:11 PM | Link to this
If you horrid trolls dont stfu ….
By What're you an idiot
May 19, 2008 7:16 PM | Link to this
A quick synopsis of LT’s contributions on any given day.
I don’t like your column, Rick. You shouldn’t be a columnist.
Check my facts. I have lots of facts (in spite of the dearth of facts in any given post).
Customary homo-erotic blast directed at anyone that dares to point out that LT’s contributions are inane/insipid, masking LT’s struggles with his/her own sexual ambivalence.
LT your contributions are valued for what they are. The low end of the bell curve.
By Fred
May 19, 2008 11:19 PM | Link to this
Hey Jimmy,
Where did you learn to read? She was a 2002 high school graduate.
By Crystal
May 20, 2008 8:06 AM | Link to this
I find it quite deplorable and extremely disrepectful that CT, Cindy, LT would find it necessary to choose this blog to argue.
Why don’t you guys take it to her gravesite and really go at it.
On second thought, it might fit in in a way, you guys are acting just like kindergarteners.
By LT5000
May 20, 2008 8:45 AM | Link to this
Idiot,
Badie’s columns suck. That’s a fact.
I am here to present the real facts that Badie and numerous other halfwits choose to ignore.
By the way, are you aware what a bell curve represents? I would suggest a quick trip to a statistics book.
Here’s a hint, it’s a probability distribution. Hope there aren’t too many big words in that previous sentence for you.
LT5000
By Cindy
May 20, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this
Crystal,
Didn’t you just do the exact same thing? ☺
Besides, I wasn’t arguing; I was discussing.
Just curious though; do kindergarteners generally go to gravesites to argue?
By What're you an idiot
May 20, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this
Not quite LT. You obviously paid only partial attention in a statistics class. Still, I had you pegged as some foul-mouthed pre-teen who borrows Mommy’s PC when she’s busy watching Jerry Springer.
Unfortunately your understanding of what a bell curve represents is close… but like every post you make its not correct. A bell curve is a graph shape that represents normal distribution, not just any old probability distribution. For example the shape of a graph of the probability of you making an a* of yourself on the Badie blog is positively skewed.
By Agi
May 20, 2008 7:35 PM | Link to this
I admit. There are 2 people just like LT 5000. The other one was on his way with his foreign boyfriend to the Northeast. The other has a corner office, he THINKS his analytical skills are second to none, and he uses the Dollar Store manager comment. I can’t believe there are two of them. The other LT5000 won’t have his job very long. These are very bitter people.