(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Principal Heather Singley of Columbia Primary School.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born in Hattiesburg on Oct. 30, 1977.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I attended school in the Columbia School District until high school and graduated from Columbia Academy. I went to USM for my bachelor’s degree in business, then William Carey for my bachelor’s in elementary education. Then I got my master’s degree in education administration from USM and my specialist degree from Delta State in curriculum and instruction. I am currently working on finishing my doctoral degree at William Carey and am expected to graduate in August 2018.
Q: Where all have you lived?
A: I am a hometown girl. I have always lived here with the exception being briefly living in Hattiesburg when I was in college at USM.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I am the principal of Columbia Primary School, and here I have students from kindergarten through second grade. The primary aspects of my job are to keep them safe at school and educate them. On a day-to-day basis, I do everything from car duty to bus duty; I observe the children’s classes, train the teachers as far as professional development to strengthen instruction. I’m really involved in everything. We have AR programs for the students; we’re adding a glee club for the students this year to bring music into our campus, so we have lots of exciting things planned.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I actually did not start off in education; I was a business and marketing major. When I had children, I knew I would be sending these kids off to school one day and it was very important to me that they were in a setting that had professionals that were not only going to teach them, but love them and keep them safe. When my first born was five months old, I went back to school and got my teaching degree. So my own children inspired me to get into education.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: I enjoy seeing the kids each day and communicating with the teachers, parents and students. It’s exciting to see a child come into kindergarten and not even know their letters, but by the time they leave kindergarten they are already reading. It’s amazing at this young age the amount they can take in. I like to have fun with the kids, too. The most fun I have at my job is when we get to give rewards for academics and behavior. We try to capitalize on all facets that may interest the child — providing an art program, a literacy program, an education program, a music program — it’s really entertaining to see how they evolve into their own person.
Q: What was your first job?
A: My first job was as a lifeguard at Columbia Country Club.
Q: Who is the person who has been most influential in your life?
A: It would be both of my parents, Austin and Sherry Buckley. Both of them instilled in me from a very young age that you should always treat people with respect and to really be a nice person that communicates with others well. They instilled in me to treat people the way you would like to be treated and a strong work ethic.
Q: What is your spouse’s name? What does he do for a living?
A: My husband is Justin Singley. He works at Singley Construction. He and his dad have an environmental cleanup company here in town.
Q: Do you have any children?
A: We have three boys, Aiden, Rylan and Kellan. Aiden is a sophomore at Columbia High School. Rylan is in sixth-grade at Jefferson Middle School and Kellan is in kindergarten at Presbyterian Church.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: It would be crawfish pasta.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I want to go to Rio de Janeiro. I would really like to go there and see the Christ the Redeemer statue.
Q: What hobbies/activities do you like to do in your spare time?
A: When I have spare time, I like to play the piano. I started playing in the third-grade and took lessons all throughout high school. I like to draw, love to travel and have a bloodhound, Sidney, that I love dearly that I like to spend time with.
Q: What do you enjoy most about living and working in Columbia?
A: I like Columbia because I often compare it to Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show. It is a small town, but there is a really good culture here and it’s a tightknit community. It’s nice that you know the people around town. When you go somewhere, you always see a friend. It has a nice hometown feel.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: It would be Dr. Marilyn Foxworth, who taught me at Jefferson Middle School. She was my gifted teacher for two years. Some of the goals that I set in her class I’m still currently working on today. One of my goals was to finish my doctoral degree by the time I was 40, and I’m on course to finish that. She really inspired in me a love for learning. She did things out of the box in her class, and it was exciting to go in there. Some of the strategies that she used are some of the same ones I encourage my staff to use. I really appreciated how she taught us at that level and did things she didn’t have to do.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
A: The biggest impact would be the birth of my first child. I do have three children who I love equally, but I was 24 when I had Aiden and everything up to that point had been about me. Having my own children really helped me realize how much you can love somebody else more than yourself.
Q: Would you rather read a good book or watch a good movie and why?
A: I would always rather read a good book. When you read a book, you can let your imagination visualize what the characters look like and how the story would be in real life.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: I would like to be remembered as a person that was fair, always treated others with respect and tried to do the right thing. In the school business, it can be hard when you deal with parents because we have policies that are designed to educate the children and keep them as safe as possible. Sometimes it’s hard to communicate that with parents, but we have rules that we have to follow. Hopefully, I will be remembered as a person that was trustworthy, fair and kind to others.
— Joshua Campbell
Pictured Above: CPS Principal Heather Singley, center, is pictured with Niyuna Johnson, left, and Kayleigh Hough next to the newly-donated Little Library from the Junior Auxiliary Club of Columbia. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
