VINTON–This year Herman L. Horn has a new principal, two new assistant principals, and six new teachers. Peggy Stovall moved up from assistant principal to acting principal. Former Roanoke County administrators B.J. Brewer and Becky Rowe are serving as her assistants.
Stovall says that the key to success is “people not programs” and that hiring and retaining good teachers is vital. She believes she has added some strong educators to her staff this year.
Lauren Glascock will be working as a resource teacher at HLH this year with kindergarten, third, and fifth grades. This is her first year teaching. She comes to HLH from Penn Forest Elementary where she worked as an instructional for two years. She attended Virginia Tech to earn a degree in business and is finishing her Master’s degree in education at Radford University this semester.
Glascock is beginning her fourth year as head volleyball and girls’ tennis coach at William Byrd High School.
Her husband, Michael Glascock, is the PE teacher at Bonsack Elementary.
Kendra Larew will be teaching third grade science and social studies and fourth grade Virginia Studies. She has taught for 14 years, 10 of those at Moneta Elementary in Bedford County.
She attended W.E. Cundiff Elementary and graduated from William Byrd High School. She received her teaching degree from Mary Baldwin in 2000. Her daughter was a student at Herman L. Horn.
“I wanted to teach at Herman L. Horn because I wanted to be a part of the community that I grew up in and live in,” said Larew.
Bethany Mitchell will be teaching Pre-K at Horn. This is her first year as a teacher. She moved to Roanoke this past year when she married her husband who grew up in Roanoke.
Mitchell graduated from James Madison University in 2014 with her Master’s in teaching. She applied online to the school system “after hearing great things about Roanoke County,” and also about Herman L. Horn.
Amanda Overfelt will be teaching Kindergarten this year. She attended W.E. Cundiff, which was called Hardy Road Elementary at the time, and graduated from William Byrd in 1999. She went on to attend Virginia Western and then took classes at Hollins University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in child psychology and then her teaching certificate from Mary Baldwin.
While working on her psychology degree, Overfelt taught for eight years at Parkway Wesleyan’s Academic Preschool. She was a substitute teacher for Roanoke County and Roanoke Catholic during the time she was working on her teaching certificate.
Overfelt did a student internship at W.E. Cundiff and then her student teaching at Herman L. Horn. She held two long-term substitute positions at HLH from February through May this year and then over the summer was offered a full-time position.
“I love Vinton and because of my close ties to this town, I wanted to teach in the Vinton school community,” said Overfelt. “During my student teaching and tenure as a long term sub at HLH, I was impressed by the professional manner in which the school operated. I also liked the way the principals interacted with the students and staff. Herman L. Horn is a happy school and it is evident that the HLH staff loves the students. The children are always their top priority. These are only a few of the reasons I wanted to be part of the Herman L. Horn Hive.”
Macy Snead will teach second grade at HLH. She is not new to the school—she did her student teaching at HLH and also worked at the school as a substitute.
“I am originally from Christiansburg, but my mother moved to Vinton after my freshman year at Virginia Tech in 2011,” said Snead. “It was a good place to move to after living in the New River Valley my whole life. I graduated from Virginia Tech in 2014 with my Bachelor’s. This past August I completed my Master’s in Teaching from Mary Baldwin College through the Higher Education Center in downtown Roanoke.”
Snead said she was looking for jobs all over the state when Stovall called her in mid-June for an interview.
“I was beyond excited to be considered for a teaching position at HLH for my first ever teaching job,” said Snead. “I really enjoyed the close knit community it had to offer and how everyone works together to better the students’ social and academic experience.”
“Beginning my career in education at HLH has been a complete blessing,” said Snead. “I also really look forward to staying in Vinton. I fell in love with its small town charm and close proximity to downtown Roanoke and shopping. I’m very proud to say that I teach 2nd grade at Herman L. Horn. I have 16 great and hard-working students.”
Meredith Vinson will be teaching first grade. She has been working as an instructional assistant. She received her Bachelor’s degree from James Madison University in 2012 and her Master’s in 2013.
“This is not my first year working in an elementary school, but it is my first year as a teacher,” said Vinson.
Vinson worked at HLH last year as the PALS Tutor and did some long-term subbing in first grade as well.
According to Stovall, Herman L. Horn has started the year with an enrollment of approximately 425 students including the two Pre-K programs.
