Dr. Dessilyn Chappell is a true lover of knowledge and learning. After earning a bachelor’s degree in communications from The University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2007, the Montevallo native realized that her passion lied in another field — education.
“我一直想灌输对学习的热爱, 尤其是在幼儿中, 因为他们很容易受影响，他们是海绵,”她说。. “If you can spark it early, it’s something that can continue. I feel like it has always been my job to encourage people to ask questions, to always want to know more so that you can continue to grow as you get older.”
在研究了本州的研究生教育项目后, Chappell found that the 澳门在线赌城娱乐 had one of the best and was accepted during her senior year at UAB. Having grown up here and knowing people who worked at the University, she was approached about replacing a hall director that was leaving in the middle of the school year. She moved back to town to live on campus as the hall director in Main Hall and commuted to UAB for her classes.
“I think I graduated May 5 at UAB and started May term at Montevallo on the seventh,”她说。. “速度很快。, but I also say it’s a God thing because He was the one that orchestrated all of this, 结果成功了. 也许我应该一直去蒙特瓦洛, 但他把我送到了我该去的地方.”
查佩尔在密歇根大学获得了她的第一个学位, 小学教育与教学硕士学位, in 2009. 与此同时, she dove right into teaching as an intern at Meadowview Elementary School in Alabaster, 她后来在哪里工作. She taught there for eight years as she earned two more degrees from UM — a Master of Education in Educational, Instructional and Curriculum Supervision in 2013 and an Educational Specialist Degree in Educational, 2015年度教学与课程监督.
She moved on to work at Huntingdon College in Montgomery as an instructor in teacher education from 2017 to 2020. 在此期间, she returned to UAB to pursue her doctorate in early childhood education and teaching, 她在2021年完成了. The commute from Montgomery to Birmingham became tedious after a while, so Chappell made the switch back to elementary school education in Hoover City Schools.
现在, 查佩尔就职于西阿拉巴马大学, where she has served as assistant professor of elementary education since 2022. 作为一名在线教师, her students are all across the state and from all age groups, 甚至比她还老.
“That has always been an inspiration to me that it’s never too late, 活到老，学到老, 开始一个你一直拥有的梦想永远不会太晚,”她说。. “That’s encouraging for me to be able to connect to people all over the state, but also those that have never given up and they still have that passion in education.”
除了她的教学和指导角色, Chappell is an active member of the UM National 校友 Association. She joined the board in 2023 and started serving as Vice President of Clubs this year. Her role includes serving as a liaison to club leaders and helping plan opportunities for alumni to connect through clubs, 无论是区域性的还是基于利益的.
“I think it’s just a great opportunity to stay connected to your university,”她说。. “I feel like life is built on the connections that you make — connections with people that can eventually help you, 但你也可以潜在地帮助他们. Connect with clubs, events or just connect to your department that you graduated from. 想想你可以如何回馈——回馈你说过的话, your time or your funds if you are able to because it makes a difference within your university, but it also makes a difference to the students that truly need it.”
