Ms. Hammock, Centaurus’s beloved history teacher, is retiring this year. Ms. Hammock has been teaching at Centaurus for 21 years, but interestingly, she didn’t start her career as a history teacher. She started teaching at around 40 years old, in a high school for behaviorally disordered kids in Alabama. Before then, she worked many different jobs, saying “I had so many different jobs because I got bored of them [so] I looked like such a flake.” It is because of these jobs that she eventually landed a job teaching at Centaurus.
I personally know Ms. Hammock from the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme. She started teaching IB History for Juniors because it really appealed to her, saying “I have a low boredom threshold; I love doing different things. IB has just been so fun”. When asked what her favorite thing about IB is, she responded, “even though I complain about it, I like reading the IAs … I’m constantly reading and thinking ‘wow, I didn’t know that’”. Ms. Hammock has been a key part of the IB program at Centaurus, teaching history and helping IB students on their IA’s for years.
Many things have changed since she came to Centaurus in 2006, but much has remained the same. When I asked her, the first thing she pointed out was the size of the school: “There weren’t close to a thousand students when I came here, and we even had some unused rooms; imagine that!”. On the other hand, one thing has not changed. Ms. Hammock mentioned a positive glow on Centaurus, “there’s more of an acceptance at Centaurus, that’s always been here since I started teaching”. This energy is the reason she’s loved Centaurus.
Interestingly, she’s almost always been in Room 136. Before she moved there, she was in an old little room with a sofa, remembering, “I was always arguing with people not to sit on the sofa… If you sit on a sofa in school, you’re crazy.” She says that her favorite room is definitely 136.
In her classes, her favorite thing to teach is authoritarian states, saying, “I really like the way one thing leads to another thing and before you know it, you have an authoritarian state, and even though that’s the case it’s happened so many times, people still don’t get it”. Her favorite historical figure to teach is Benjamin Franklin, saying she’s always had a fondness of the founding father.
When asked about her favorite memory, Mrs. Hammock remembered the generosity of her IB students after her house burned due to the Marshall Fire. “It was so sweet, just amazing.” After the Marshall Fire, her IB students banded together and gave her a basket full of essentials, helping her recover after the damaging fire.
One of the things Ms. Hammock is known for her chili recipe, having won chili cookoffs between teachers at Centaurus, winning one this year! Her way of cooking chili is a little unconventional, as her secret recipe calls for “a Guinness beer and chocolate”. While these ingredients seem random, they are the reason for her cookoff-winning chili.
When asking Ms. Hammock about what she will miss the least and most about CHS, she said, “grading is the least, but I’ll really miss planning. I really like making up lessons, it’s just so fun”. When reflecting on her teaching career at Centaurus, she said she had lots of fun, and never got bored: “If you can get bored teaching, you’re just not paying attention.” Staff, current students, and Centaurus graduates will all miss her dearly. Have a good retirement, Ms. Hammock!
