Connie Jolley teaches about emotional wellness in her Health 2 class. Jolley has always been into health and fitness and her experiences playing sports led her to a career teaching Health and P.E.
Ms. Jolley
Connie Jolley teaches health classes, and enjoys being outdoors in her spare time.
Q: Who is your biggest motivation? And how have they impacted you?
A: “I look up to my parents. They’ve taught me how to be a good person; they taught me so many life lessons that made me who I am today.”
Q: What do you do for fun besides running? What makes that enjoyable?
A: “I like to be outdoors for family [and] go on hikes. I think being all together and being outdoors is refreshing and energizing.”
Q: When did you figure out you wanted to be a health and p.e teacher? What helped you pursue those goals?
A: “I’d always been into health and fitness even in middle school and high school, and I had led a couple camps and I knew I was good working with young people. And going into college, it was something I could be good at. I think my experience in sports—and my dad was a teacher and coach—I think all of that helped, seeing how coaches interact and seeing how meaningful they can be in a young person’s life.”
Q: Where in your life would you travel back in time to, to change, experience again, etc? Why that specific time?
A: “My freshman year in college; that time in my life was full of a lot of decisions—some I would take back, some of which I would make the same, but maybe I can do something a little different to make it better.”
Q: Why did you decide to work at Tigard High School? Explain how teaching at the same school as your son feels?
A: “So I got placed in a masters program and I became the head softball coach here and got a job at Southridge, and it was very hard not seeing the kids I coach in the hallways and having them as students, and I passed up one job here. Just wasn’t the right timing. Then I had the opportunity again and I took it. Well, I think I’m super lucky because my son is a cool kid. He is great with it. He sometimes stops and says hi. I think i’m super lucky because he’s cool with it.”
Q: Being a mother to three kids, football responsibilities, family, school, etc., how do you manage to make time for everything? How does it feel?
A: “What we were talking about in health class… stress. Stress is a real thing, and with all of that in life it’s hard to fit in everything. But I think there’s this thing as a parent where it’s just survival. It gets tiring for sure, and I feel like I’m getting older; I used to do it better when I was younger.”