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R
ecent Bluefield College alumna Sarah Cordill Jones has a
passion for teaching – a passion she was living and loving
in her seventh year with Tazewell County Schools until the
day she learned she had cancer and found herself out of the
classroom and in a battle for her life.
Being a teacher is something Jones said she always knew she
wanted to do from the time she was a child.
“I just always enjoyed passing on what I had learned and seeing
the excitement of others learning or figuring out something
new,” said Jones. “I do feel God
called me to teach. I get such a
fulfillment from teaching.”
A graduate of nearby Princeton
Senior High School, she chose
Bluefield College to explore and
nurture her passion, earning a
degree in interdisciplinary studies
with teacher licensure in 2008.
While a student at BC, she was a
member of the Student Virginia
Education Association, Alpha
Chi National Honor Society
and Phi Delta Kappa, a premier
professional association for
educators. She was also a Virginia
Collegium Scholar and named a Teacher of Promise.
“My experience at Bluefield College was wonderful,” said
Jones. “I really think the BC Education Department is the
best. It wasn’t just school; it was a family. They went above and
beyond to prepare us for the classroom.”
Jones began her career part-time in 2009 as a tutor for Tazewell
County Schools. A year later, she became a full-time reading
instructor at Dudley Primary School. Three years later, she
got her own classroom as a third grade teacher at Graham
Intermediate School (GIS). And today, she is a fourth grade
teacher at GIS, where in 2011 she started having pain in her back.
After months of being told by doctors that nothing was wrong,
Jones recalls, physicians eventually found a tumor wrapped
around her sciatic nerve near her spinal cord. It was cancer.
Diagnosed in December 2011, she was forced out of the
classroom she so loves to begin treatment. For nearly a year,
February 2012 to January 2013, she endured four months of
chemotherapy, which allowed surgeons to remove the tumor,
two months of radiation, and another six months of additional
chemo. Finally getting back in the
classroom, she said, was exciting
and emotional.
“It was wonderful to be back
where I felt God wanted me,” said
Jones. “My kids, parents, and co-
workers made me feel so loved and
welcome. The love and support I
received was overwhelming and
humbling. The support and prayers
provided a much needed strength
and gave me a boost when I
needed it.”
Cancer free, Jones returned to
the classroom in January 2013. She said she missed the lessons
and the actual teaching, but more than anything the social
interaction with her students, hearing about their day, talking
about new movies, or discussing comic books.
“I don’t have children of my own, so my students are my
children,” she said. “I love each one, even the ones that test my
patience. I love teaching the academics and finding fun ways
to do so, but one thing that the BC Education Department
always talked about was wayside teaching, and I think that it can
sometimes make a bigger difference than the academic success.
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Sarah Cordill Jones (right) accepts her Teacher of the Year Award.
CANCER
O V E R C O M I N G
to fulfill a passion to teach