Occupation: Principal
Age: 43
Background: A native of Davie County
Education: Graduated from Davie High and Winston-Salem State University, earning a degree in vocational business education. In ROTC, Heaggans graduated college as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. She spent six months in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. “It changed my life. It gives you new appreciation,” she said.
Career path: Started as a business education teacher at East Forsyth High, moved to Kennedy Middle School as curriculum coordinator and then assistant principal at Paisley Math and Science Academy. Enrollment dropped and she was forced to take a job as an assistant principal at two middle schools. Within a week of her reassignment, Salisbury High Principal Dr. Windsor Eagle called Heaggans. He offered her a position as assistant principal. She is now principal at Knox Middle School.
“There is no other profession that is more rewarding than the field of education. Where else can you go and have the opportunity to touch the lives of children each and every day?” she asked. “When you hear someone say ‘I wouldn’t do what you do,’ and they say that a lot, an educator’s heart says ‘I can’t imagine doing anything else.’ ”
Role model: Windsor Eagle. “I have trusted his wisdom and guidance to help me continue to grow in the field of school administration.”
Quote to live by: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Pet peeve: “People who are not flexible and always complaining. Get over it!”
State of race relations in Rowan County: “If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today I think he would say great strides have been made, but I think he would also say we have a long way to go. Unfortunately there are still people who use derogatory names when referring to an ethnic group and hate other people because of the color of their skin. Let us all work to keep the dream alive.”
ó Holly Lee