Mrs. Elizabeth McMurray is the new addition to the Communication Arts department. She is located in room 100, on the bottom floor. 

McMurray has been teaching for four years and is continuing her fifth year here, and she likes what she sees so far at HHS.

“The positivity and optimism in what I would call one of the most challenging school years to date has been incredible, and I don’t know that I would have felt that way in my previous school,” McMurray said.  

McMurray enjoys helping students learn something new and feeling confident in it.

Although she still loves teaching these kids, it has been difficult for a new teacher to connect to her online students. 

“It is the disruption of true communication that is hard to achieve with virtual learning,” she said.

Like us, she came from a small school. This school was called Louisiana High school, located in Louisiana, Missouri.

“I graduated with only 51 other students in my senior class,” McMurray said. She then attended Truman State University where she got her Bachelor in Arts in English. She then furthered her education at Webster University where she then got her Master in the Arts of teaching. 

Like her students Mrs.McMurray has interests outside of school. These include reading, writing and cooking. McMurray said, “I love to cook, and I feel like I am getting much better the more I practice with those skills.”

Mrs.McMurray also has a family outside of school, a husband, Josh, and a two year old son, named Daxter. 

Her hobbies really show how much she loves teaching English. “I tend to journal when I write, but sometimes I throw a little poetry in the mix,” she says. This also translates into how good of a teacher she is. 

Sometimes coming to a new school has a teacher can be scary, but having a welcoming environment can make things easier. McMurray said, “I am far more a part of the Hancock family than I thought I would be this soon into the year, and that is a great feeling!”