With the start of the 2023-2024 school year, there have been many additions to the Center Hill High School family, one of them being Kristi Ownesby.

Owensby has joined the CHHS math department and will be teaching geometry this year. She will also be the Center Hill assistant Girls Track and Field coach. This will be Owensby’s twelfth year teaching, and her first-year teaching Geometry. Before she arrived at CHHS she taught seventh grade math and science for six years at Center Hill Middle School, and she taught at Horn Lake Intermediate for five years, teaching fifth grade math prior to teaching at CHMS.  She attended the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Mississippi, where she ran track for 2 years. She is a mother to two children, her son in eighth grade attends Center Hill Middle School, and her daughter in kindergarten attends Center Hill Elementary. 

For anyone who doesn’t know or isn’t familiar with Owensby, we asked her a few questions to help students and staff get to know her.

Question: What fictional character do you think resembles your teaching style the most?

Owensby: The only fictional teacher I’m thinking of right now is The Magic School Bus lady. I think I was like her when I taught fifth grade, because I taught math and science and every week we would do hands-on activities. I hate when kids are in science and are just doing book work, like you should be doing experiments, but it’s kind of hard to do that with math.

Reply: I was thinking more so Harry Potter teachers?

Owensby: Oh, I forgot about that, that’s thinking outside the box. That old lady [Professor McGonagall] that kind of seems mean but the kids like her. The one at the end when Harry came back when she was put in charge. She was strict and had high expectations, but the kids knew she cared about them.

Question: Are there any activities you do outside of school?

Owensby: I love working out, doing any kind of physical activity. We like to go biking, hiking, and I love to read as well.

Question: What’s your favorite book?

Owensby: I’m really into fantasy, anything that’s not real life. I love Harry Potter and Lord of Rings. When I was in school, we read The Hobbit when I was in eighth grade, so I would say those are my top picks.

Question: Where are your favorite places to hike?

Owensby: Anytime we go hiking we go to Shelby Farms. With Mrs. England, a teacher from the middle school, we take a trip to Hot Springs. We always go in March on spring break and it’s perfect. It’s still cool in the morning, and you can hike but you’re not sweating to death. We like to travel and go out to eat.

Question: Growing up what teacher inspired you the most?

Owensby: I had some really good teachers in high school, and actually it’s funny that I’m teaching geometry because I thought geometry was fun. It was different back then when we did a lot of hands-on stuff that I liked.  I had an English teacher in high school, Mrs. Hicks, and we did a lot of cool projects with novels and things like that.

Question: Did you like attending Ole Miss?

Owensby: There were things that I liked, and things that I didn’t like, so both. 

Reply: Would you recommend Ole Miss to students?

Owensby: It’s a great school but it’s important to visit different colleges where your personality fits in the best.

Question: Did you study education in college, or did you change your major?

Owensby: I changed my major three times, I was pre nursing, then I was pre physical therapy then teaching finally.

Reply: What made you change from the health profession to teaching?

Owensby: When I started clinicals for nursing, so I did pre nursing the first two years and then when I started clinicals for nursing I just wasn’t great with like the bodily fluids and hands-on aspect of it?

Reply: Blood and such?

Owensby: Yes, you know the things you have to do for people when they’re sick that they can’t do for themselves? It takes a special person to do that, I don’t even like when my kids get sick. I don’t even like to touch it, I mean I do, but I’m just gagging the whole time it’s not for me. 

Question: What do you like so far about teaching at the high school?

Owensby: The age, personality for students, it is more laid back than middle school.

Question: What’s your favorite music genre?

Owensby: My favorite music genre? I like anything that sounds good, but generally when I’m working out, I like to listen to rock music or rap. I like artists that came out when I was in college. I’ll listen to some early country Taylor Swift.

Question: What’s one lifelong lesson you want to pass to your students?

Owensby: Always learn from your previous choices, whether it was a good thing or a mistake you should always learn something. I can see that with a lot of kids I taught in seventh grade and I see them now in tenth grade, you can see how they change and adapt as a person, and you always want to do that.  

Reply: In a good way or a bad way for some of the students?

Owensby: All of them, I think you can tell they’ve matured and learned and grown up a little. 

Question: What’s your favorite movie or television show?

Owensby: I love The Vampire Diaries, and The Originals. I also enjoy watching sports documentaries. We watch sports year-round.