Photo provided
Krueger Middle School ELA teacher Jamie Hullings (back, right) poses for a photograph with her husband, Dan, and son, Quinton.
KMS ELA teacher Jamie Hullings pours her heart into her job
By Ailbe Miegl
Staff writer
MICHIGAN CITY – Jamie Hullings always knows what her students need.
Hullings, a seventh grade ELA teacher at Krueger Middle School, is not only there academically for her students but also emotionally.
“I like to be emotionally helpful for kids because I know that that’s what I needed,” Hullings said. “So I try to be like what I needed.”
When Hullings was a young girl in New Castle, Ind., she said that she really wasn’t heard.
“I’m always going to make sure I make people feel listened to,” Hullings stated. “Because I understood what it felt like.”
Although she was shy, she still enjoyed hanging out with her family. Every year in July, Hullings and her family would go to their cabin and fish on Lake Michigan. She described her family as funny but also very supportive.
She discovered that she wanted to be an ELA teacher when she was 14. She said she wanted a job where she would get to help people and read.
“I was like ‘Boom, an ELA teacher.’” Hullings recalled. “I knew that I always wanted to make a difference.”
With a crazy situation going on, her 12th grade ELA teacher at Tri Junior-Senior High School really inspired her and wanted to help her grow. This teacher allowed Hullings to get up and help other students learn.
“She was awesome.” Hullings said.
Hullings was accepted into Ball State University, where she studied to become an ELA teacher. She liked it there.
“Ball State, it’s big enough to where you’re your own person, but small enough to where you can walk to all your classes and it’s not overwhelming,” Hullings said.
She got a job at Krueger and became a seventh grade teacher for ELA in 2016. However, in the 2022-23 school year she had to teach 8th graders.
She said it was more adaptable to teach eighth grade since she had the eighth graders the year before as seventh graders.
“It was easier to teach them and make connections, and solidify some skills,” Hullings said. “Because I could jog their memory back to what we did the previous year.”
This year, Hullings went back to teaching seventh grade. After eight years of this profession, she still thinks English is fun.
“I think reading stories and seeing kids’ reactions is like really, really fun,” Hullings said.
She also described teaching as “wild in the best way.”
“Each day is different; it is always hilarious,” Hullings said. “Kids are so fun, I love this age group and it’s exciting.”
One student who has enjoyed having Hullings as a teacher is seventh grader Maverick Miegl.
“She made me confident that I can write, that I can do any ELA.” Maverick said.
Bill Sigler, a coworker of Hullings, also appreciates her. He knew she would be great when he first heard her at a team meeting communicating her ideas.
Now, she is the seventh grade team leader.
“She’s what holds our hallway together,” Sigler said.
Even though she’s from southern Indiana, it didn’t take long for Hullings to feel like she fits in here.
“I feel like a part of the community for sure,” Hullings said.
Although at school she feels like she’s part of a family, she has her own family at home.
She has a seven-year-old son named Quinton with her husband, Dan Hullings.
“We’re just silly in my house,” Hullings said. “Like, my son’s funny; he’s just so goofy.”
Hullings believes that no matter what’s happening, you are 100 percent allowed to have your own feelings. She also wants her students to know they aren’t alone.
“I would tell them that communication is very important, and that I was a safe space or I am a safe space for them,” Hullings said. “To be whoever they are, to talk about whatever they need, I’m there.”