By Mandy Gambrell
Sarah Daniels passionate about teaching visual arts at Badin High School, but there’s something else important to the longtime educator: She is a listener, and she seeks advice from others.
Daniels says she is always learning.
“I have been so fortunate to teach alongside people who build me up, listen, offer advice
and share my sense of humor,” she said.
She’s probably done a lot of that considering how long and how many places she has taught the arts.
“I have been teaching visual arts at Badin High School for 9 years,” she said. “I taught art, music and phys ed at St. Julie Billiart School for 8 years.”
She also taught classes for all ages at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton for five years after it first opened. And she taught visual arts at the The New School, a
Montessori school in Avondale, for 5 years.
Daniels got her start teaching private art lessons. She says teaching has never felt like a job to her.
“ It always feels like a purpose,” she said.
Being an educator may be in her bloodline. Both of Daniels’ parents and maternal grandmother were teachers, and her grandfather was a high school principal. But she says at first, she was not interested in teaching.
“I pursued my BFA from DAAP
[the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning]
at the University of Cincinnati. A couple of my professors asked if I would be interested in teaching art to their own children and a few other kids. The money was really appealing to an art student, and I think I was pretty good at it,” she said. “The opportunity was a blessing.”
Daniels remained adamant about not pursuing a career in art education, instead following a gallery position, as well as doing freelance fashion illustration and art.
“It was like the teaching thing kept chasing me without ever giving up,” she said. “I suppose my grandparents were somewhere up there making this happen … I had no idea at the time the difference my students would make in my life.”
Working at Badin High School “feels like home,” Daniels said.
Outside of teaching, Daniels and her husband Todd focus a lot on their Queen Anne Victorian home in Hamilton’s Dayton Lane Historic District, which they purchased 31 years ago.
“We have enjoyed renovating and decorating our three-floor home. We didn’t know what to expect when we bought the house — probably a good thing. We are currently renovating the kitchen/studio space,” she said.
The couple have two adult daughters who live in northern Kentucky.
When Daniels is at school and working alongside her students, it is really important for her to share her values with them.
“Art teachers have the unique opportunity to work side-by-side with their students. We hear a lot. I try very hard to seize the moment to share my experiences and listen.
“Listen to what they have to say. Today’s generation are confronted — bombarded — with so much information at such a rapid pace,” Daniels said.
“I want students to remember to breathe. To take time. You are born into a family. But you will become part of so many families along the way. And some will really stick. The ones who will back you up. The ones you can call at 2 a.m. That is my Badin family.”