Walking into the building for the 2024-2025 school year at Davie High, various changes can be noticed around the school. The schedule changes and switch from PowerSchool to Infinite Campus have both affected the year, although a more significant change has been the addition of new teachers to our staff.

Tanicia Jackson, Davie’s newest math teacher, is in her ninth year of teaching. Throughout the years, she has always taught math and been passionate about it. Unlike other staff members, though, this is not her first time teaching at Davie High. Jackson first taught at this high school in the 2013-2014 school year, eventually leaving to teach 8th-grade math for three years.

“Coming back, it was a breath of fresh air,” Jackson said. “I knew I was coming back into a place that was well structured.”

Although she was inspired by her previous teachers at Thomasville Senior High, teaching was not her first career choice. She started her years at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), majoring in nursing before switching to Special Education K-12. She started her career as an EC teacher and then co-taught Math I, II, and III. The transition between these positions, however, was smoother than might have been expected.

“I started general education math for middle school, 8th grade, so I did have to familiarize myself with that curriculum but it was very similar to what we taught in Math I,” Jackson said.

Though she was only gone from Davie High for a few years, Jackson has returned to a school that is both familiar and different from what she remembers. In addition to her move to the math department, Jackson also finds herself teaching in the freshman academy. 

“The transition was busy because not only did I switch positions [EC to general education], I changed schools and was in the process of buying my first house, which had been delayed multiple times due to the pandemic,” said Jackson.

Outside of the classroom, Jackson takes pride in being a mother of two kids. Though she acknowledges it can be hard to balance being a teacher and having time for other things in life, that hasn’t stopped her from finding moments of joy. This year, Jackson went on her first international trip to Jamaica and has found a new love for building Legos with her daughter. 

As the semester wraps up, Jackson believes her return to Davie High has been a great experience for both her and her students.

“I love being at Davie,” said Jackson, “It was great to come back and work with teachers who I had previously worked with and learned from.”