Ivan Nails is one of the new teachers at Center Hill High School this year.

Currently, Nails teaches Safety Education and Health. He has been teaching for 9 years. Before teaching at the Hill, he taught at Horn Lake High School and Southaven High School.

Nails went to Southeast Missouri State University, where he originally majored in General Studies and played D1 basketball before later taking the alternate route to teaching.

When asked which teacher from Nails’ school-years inspired him most, he stated, “Mrs. McKinnon. She was my fifth-grade teacher, and she just didn’t give up on me. I struggled a little bit. She just kept pushing.” He would also like to inspire his students in the same way.

A life lesson that Nails would like to pass down to his current and future students is to come even if things seem hard and continue to work because you can always push through in the end.

So far, Nails enjoys his new school and the culture of the Hill. “The way everyone works together in the staff, and how respectful everyone is.”