Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of four articles on Columbiana women who make a difference in our community.

Hailey Porter Fant is Elvin Hill Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year.

Nominated and judged by her peers, Fant has been teaching only four years. Following in her mother’s footstep, Joy Porter was Shelby County’s Teacher of the Year last year.

“Hailey loves what she is doing,” said Porter. “I was so proud when she was selected Teacher of the Year! I always thought from the time she was very young that she would be a teacher one day. It is very exciting to see her peers think she is already a success in the classroom.”

Fant grew up in Columbiana schools: Elvin Hill Elementary, Columbiana Middle, and Shelby County High School. She graduated from Auburn in 2007 with a degree in elementary education and married Chuck Fant in the summer of 2007. Chuck and Hailey bought her grandparent’s (Raymond and Jane Davis) home on Mildred Street and have renovated and remodeled it.

Fant is in the Vignette Club of which her mother was once president. The Fants attend First Baptist Church of Columbiana.

Fant has been teaching first grade at Elvin Hill for four years.

“I love to live in the community where I teach and see my kids about town,” Fant said.

Fant went to graduate school at Montevallo and received her master’s in elementary education in 2009.

“The classroom is my heart,” said Fant. “Learning is a lifelong process. My favorite part of teaching is nurturing my students individually. I keep a portfolio of each of my students. It is amazing how much they grow and change in a year.”

“I love teaching at Elvin Hill,” she said. “The staff pulls together, helps and supports each other. Every member of this school is willing to go the extra mile for these students.”

Fant painted her classroom sky blue and decorated it with a rainbow, flowers, butterflies and the “Watermelon Word Wall,” carrying out her theme of “Growing a Garden of Learners.”

She loves her students: Braxton Beadlecomb, Logan Edwards, Jackson Glover, Michael Hernandez, Gracie Hockman, Jacob Horton, Alasyia Irvin, Jaquarious Kelow, Kinzie McDonald, Carter McKee, Hannah Patterson, Lauren Robinson, Cole Rogers, Caleb Russell, Hayden Sisson and Madison Stagner.

Columbiana is proud of Teacher of the Year Hailey Fant, a woman making a difference in our children’s lives.

Phoebe Donald Robinson can be reached by e-mail at phoeberobinson@bellsouth.net.