{"id":42611,"date":"2017-09-20T09:15:54","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T13:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=42611"},"modified":"2022-09-28T10:24:07","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T14:24:07","slug":"teaching-temperament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/20\/teaching-temperament\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching temperament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sheila<\/a>

Sheila Skimmerhorn, a two-time Wright State graduate, was the first student to register for classes at Wright State, in 1964. She is finishing her teaching career at the Dayton Regional STEM school. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

Her father was a stickler for being on time. In fact, he liked to be early. That\u2019s how his daughter, Sheila Skimmerhorn, found herself standing outside the Wright State University admissions office 30 minutes before it opened on that day in 1964.<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn\u2019s father had driven her from the family\u2019s Springfield home to the converted farmhouse that served as the original gateway to Wright State. Because she was early, Skimmerhorn was at the head of the line and became the first person to register at the new university as it opened its doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought going to a brand new school would be really exciting,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI was on TV and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the 69-year-old Skimmerhorn has come full circle. She is capping off a career as a Spanish teacher by working part-time at the Dayton Regional STEM School, of which Wright State is a founding partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happier than I\u2019ve been in a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful place to be. The teachers, in particular, have gone out of their way to be so friendly, so helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn knew early on she wanted to be a teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was because I was inspired by other teachers, especially a history teacher that I had,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Springfield South High School, Skimmerhorn enrolled at The Ohio State University, but then received a scholarship from the new Dayton school being formed by Ohio State and Miami University. She would go on to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree \u2014 double majoring in history<\/a> and Spanish<\/a> \u2014 from what would become Wright State University and was the first person at the school to complete her degree.<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn is \u201cthrilled to death\u201d that she chose to attend Wright State as it was just getting off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Ph.D.s and the heads of departments teaching all of the freshman classes. We didn\u2019t know that was unusual,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had all these people who were experts in their field teaching. That was thrilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn and a few other student senators played a key role in the christening of Wright State as an independent institution in 1967.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to take the bottle of champagne and crash it into the bell tower,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThe secret is we had drunk the champagne and a few other things before we did that. We actually filled the bottle with water.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Wright State, Skimmerhorn studied Spanish at a university in Mexico for a summer and then earned her master\u2019s in Spanish from the University of Cincinnati and later a master\u2019s degree in curriculum development<\/a> from Wright State.<\/p>\n

She launched her teaching career in 1968 in Springfield city schools and taught for 20 years at Greeneview High School in Jamestown. She retired from teaching at public schools in 2007 and for the next seven years taught at Springfield Catholic Central.<\/p>\n

One of Skimmerhorn\u2019s students went on to become a Broadway star and several excelled in government careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think having students who became teachers because of me is the ultimate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn joined the Dayton Regional STEM School<\/a> in August as a part-time Spanish teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids are great. They are so inventive,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd there is so much collaboration among the teachers. You don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re all by yourself like you do a lot of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn said teachers have so many more resources today than they once did, thanks to computers and the Internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe instant access to information is absolutely amazing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But she said students need to realize that learning is sometimes just hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere comes a time when you just have to sit down and study,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn believes she chose the right profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching is where I needed to be, and I still love it,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of my friends are retired, and they think I\u2019m crazy. But I would go absolutely crazy at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skimmerhorn has arranged to have her remains donated to the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Anatomical Gift Program<\/a> for educational and scientific purposes. An annual Memorial Program is held each fall for family members of the donors at Rockafield Cemetery on the campus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI figure I may as well end up there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Originally founded as a branch campus of The Ohio State University and Miami University, Wright State became an independent institution in 1967. It celebrates its 50th anniversary<\/a> in 2017, culminating with a special Homecoming celebration<\/a> Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheila Skimmerhorn, a two-time Wright State graduate, was the first student to register for classes at the university in 1964. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":42613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4307,722,733,4299,4276,2104,744,725,4863,747,715,4855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-50th","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-profile","category-center-for-workforce-development","category-teacher-education","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-humanities-and-cultural-studies","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42611"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47946,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42611\/revisions\/47946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}