| Sources |
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 2 Nov 2004.
Harlan Williams obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 19 Mar 2010.
Meet Your Neighbor: Teacher Mickey Williams a 'driving' force at Seymour High School
Mickey Williams is not only a teacher, but a jack of all trades at Seymour High School. (Jason Davis/The Mountain Press)
By BOB MAYES
Managing Editor
SEYMOUR — If they could only get Mickey Williams to work in the lunchroom during his planning period or come back late in the afternoon to help sweep up, they might really have something at Seymour High School.
It’s not like the 40-year-old native and 1988 SHS graduate doesn’t do enough already.
Let’s see: Williams teaches history, social studies and sociology, coaches the academic decathlon team, was on the committee that put together some of the programs that helped Seymour win $100,000 from U.S. Cellular’s Calling All Schools and drives an hour-plus bus route in the mornings and afternoons. He was also the head coach of the boys soccer team 2004-2007 and assistant coach the next two years.
As if that wasn’t enough, he coaches 9-year-old son Blaine’s youth baseball team in South Knoxville and is a waiter at Olive Garden — his personal favorite dish is the kiante chicken — in Sevierville two nights a week.
Add to that, he’ll have been married 22 years in December to Angel, is high school sweetheart, and the couple has three children. In addition to Blaine, there’s 19-year-old Clarisa and 18-year-old Faith.
It’s a hectic schedule, but the affable Williams makes sure he has quality time for his family.
“We make use of all the time we’ve got,” he said last week during his planning period. “When I say ‘we,’ these days, I mean myself, my wife and my son, because our daughters are older and have other things. We try to do something every week, even if it’s just getting to McDonald’s to get a sundae.”
Williams’ typical weekday begins at 5:30 a.m. He’s on his bus by 6:30 and delivers his students to all four of the Seymour schools by 7:45 before making a beeline to his classroom. He teaches three 90-minute classes per day. His planning period is the last of the day, enabling him to get out of class by 2:35 to start his afternoon bus route. (His day doesn’t end, by the way, until after “King of Queens” goes off the air at 11:10 p.m.)
Ask him his favorite school activity is and it’s a no-brainer.
“I really enjoy being in the classroom with the students, really enjoy the teaching,” Williams said. “It’s a structured environment when I can lead the kids toward learning about a certain subject or a certain time period.
“I really enjoy the interaction with them.”
Although he deals with children of all ages while on his bus route, he prefers teaching the older kids because of the maturity level. But he doesn’t buy into the theory that today’s students are less manageable or less interested in learning.
“High school kids today are more experienced, not as naive, so you have to be aware of that,” Williams said. “I tell my students that one reason I enjoy the high school age is because they are young adults. I treat them with the same respect that I would when their parents walk in.”
While Williams is dead serious about the students learning the assigned mater, he takes a bit of a different approach of getting that message across. Think: “Welcome Back Kotter.”
“You have to be a little bit dorky and silly to keep them entertained,” he said. “We’ll be doing a lecture on ancient Rome and I might try to relate it to something going on today to keep it in a light-hearted atmosphere.
“I make them feel history is not something you have to be intimidated by. I make fun of math classes, but in a good-natured way. It’s just silliness like that — not super funny; the word I keep hearing is ‘corny.’
“With the Internet, there is all kind of material out there.”
There are a few other things to know about Semyour’s veritable vessel of versatility. He is often asked by other teachers to drive their classes on field trips, affording him the opportunity to visit places such as the Oak Lidge Lab and the national park.
Putting his experience from his high school days as president of the FFA into use during the winter, he gets hay out to the five head of cattle owned by his mother; and wife “forces” — he says with a chuckle — to plant a small vegetable garden.
One of the things of which Williams is most proud is that he is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, serving for nearly eight months in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a member of the Army Reserve.
In addition to an associate’s from Pellissippi Community College, Williams has a bachelor’s in history from UT, a master’s in curriculum from UT and an Ed.S. from Lincoln Memorial. And now, as if Williams doesn’t have enough going, he has applied for the doctoral program at East Tennessee State.
Finally, Williams and his family are members at Rocky Branch Baptist Church in Walland, where surely he must serve on several committees, sing in the choir or be an usher.
“Nope,” he says, chuckling, “I just help fill a pew.”
bmayes@themountainpress.com
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Abt 1970 - (~ 54 years)
, d. 2 Nov 2004 (Age 69 years)