“Take pride in things,” advised Renee Buckley. “I love Quitman, and there is so much history here that could be so good. Just take pride in our community.”
Renee Buckley has always loved Quitman and has great memories of Quitman from when she was just a little girl.
“One of my favorite memories from when I was little was coming to Quitman to see my grandparents,” explained Renee. “We lived in Forest for a while, and we would come on weekends to spend the weekend with my grandparents.”
Eventually, they lived in Quitman, and she attended school here. It was while she was in school that she found what she was passionate about and wanted a career in later on.
“At first I thought I wanted to do nursing because so many women in my family are nurses, but I will faint if you try to give me a shot, so I felt that it was not for me,” remembered Renee. “I always wanted to be a teacher, though. I can remember in fourth and fifth grades that I had a desk in my room, and I would make tests out for children that I was teaching. I can remember going to Traweek’s, and they had the carbon notebooks. I would make a test out with those so that I would have two. On my junior or senior year, I went to a mentor thing with the elementary school. I was with Ms. Sue Berry at that time. That was probably when I first knew that I really wanted to do that. Ms. Berry, Tootsie Culberson, and Christine Wright were all teachers that I loved, and they made me want to be a teacher.”
She believes in education, and although it took longer than she would have expected, she eventually got her degree so she could attain the job of her dreams.
“I graduated from Quitman in 1984, and from there I went to Jones. I went there for two years. I ended up getting married and having Megan and Morgan, so I didn’t finish my degree at the time,” recalled Renee.
Later on, she completed her degree and became a teacher.
“When Megan was in school and Morgan had start preschool at the Methodist Church, I was working as a medical transcriptionist at a clinic in Meridian. I had been thinking about finishing my degree once my kids were in school, and that’s what I did. I had to finish up some of my prerequisites at MCC and then transferred to the State branch. I graduated from there in 1997. That fall, I started teaching at Quitman Lower Elementary, and Ms. Herbeson was my first principal,” Renee informed. “I taught there for three years. Patsy Smith was the principal at the elementary in Enterprise, and I had done my student teaching there, so I knew her. She needed a fourth grade teacher and was in a bind since it was late July, so I went there. I taught at Enterprise for around seven years. Then, I ended up going back to Quitman.”
She loved her job teaching, but Renee also had another passion from when she was a young child: dance. She decided to take a break from teaching elementary school to teach dance for a while.
“Dance was always a huge part of my life. I was close to three when I started taking dance,” stated Renee. “I left Quitman around 2013 and started a dance class.”
It was through her dance classes that she met and fell in love with Keith Buckley. After a few years of teaching dance, however, she decided it was time to return to the classroom.
“In 2016, I went back to Quitman and got a job teaching third grade,” declared Renee. “I was real nervous because the third grade gate was just starting, and there was a lot of pressure on third grade teachers. That first year, we were departmentalized. I taught reading, and Robin Johnson was my partner and taught math.”
By 2020, she decided to further her education even more and acquire her Master’s Degree. She completed her degree online, graduating at the end of 2021, and will begin a new career in Quitman School District this year.
“I’m not going to be in the classroom anymore,” said Renee. “I’m starting as a literacy coach for the state department. I’ll still be at Quitman, though.”
All of her teaching experience hasn’t just been limited to dance and elementary. She has also taught multiple children swimming lessons over the years. She was a lifeguard at Clarkco for a little while when she was younger and has always been a great swimmer. In fact, she can clearly remember when she first learned to swim and found her love of the water.
“I can remember learning to swim. My aunt taught me to swim,” Renee reminisced. “We were living in Forest at the time, and I’d come for the week to stay with my papaw and mamaw. We went out to the Country Club, and my aunt Susan taught me to swim. I was around five, and it was natural, so I didn’t have any trouble with it. We were going on vacation a couple weeks later, and I’d never told my mama and daddy that I’d learned how to swim. We went to a lake. I can remember there was a long pier, and I took off running down that pier and just dove in. My daddy was about to have a fit, and my mama can’t swim. Daddy will never let me forget that.”
Her love of the water went beyond just swimming and teaching others to swim. When she was still in school, she participated in a ski club in Quitman and would travel around doing different tricks.
“When I was in about the eighth grade, they had Ski Club in Quitman,” expressed Renee. “We were named the Clarke County Stump Jumpers. We would go around to Fourth of July shows and do a ski exhibition. I thought I was in heaven because I was the youngest one out there. I was part of the flags in the opening part of the show with the American flag and the State flag. I was part of that little routine. Then, we had a pyramid. It wasn’t anything huge but was like three guys and two girls. I was one of the girls. That was fun.”
Although she no longer teaches swim and dance, Renee still works hard to make a positive impact on everyone she can in the county. She may be taking on a new job as literacy coach, but she will still be working alongside students to teach them what they need to know. She has a loving heart and will always do whatever she can to teach, love, and inspire everyone she interacts with.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726.
