ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — The halls of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School are familiar ground for Mrs. Elizabeth Daniels.
That's because Mrs. Daniels is a proud graduate turned freshman English teacher at her alma mater.
"I was on the first girls’ soccer team coming here, and so now I'm the coach. I do coach. And, you know, I think that OW is like a diamond in the rough. I really do," says Mrs. Daniels. "We have very smart students. I always wanted to come back to my community. It felt like home.”
Orangeburg County has always been Mrs. Daniels' home and teaching is in her blood. She has many family members, including her mother, who taught.
“My mom taught at my middle school. I had my mom in the eighth grade," says Mrs. Daniels. "It probably had something to do with my mom. My grandfather, her father, he was a Dean at a College. And then my aunt, my Dad's sister, worked in Beaufort.”
After graduating from USC and getting her Masters at SC State, Mrs. Daniels taught at Bowman Academy for two years. After that, she taught at Colleton Preparatory for another two years. During the pandemic, Mrs. Daniels started teaching at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.
“So my first year teaching here was like, no students in the room, and it was hard. It was really rough, because being a teacher, I like seeing their faces every day. That's the thing about teaching. You can see when they get it. And I wasn't able to see when they got it because I only had a couple that would cut their cameras on,” says Mrs. Daniels.
She has been at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School for the past five years. She is also the school's soccer coach.
“Ms. Daniels is my favorite teacher because she’s really patient with us. She teaches new things. She’s really helpful when we need help and she’ll be right here in the morning to help us,” says Gelisa Austin, who is one of Mrs. Daniels' students and a soccer player.
“I appreciate her for the things she does for us and our class and I want to say I’m thankful for you Mrs. Daniels,” says student Comauri Dantzler.
Mrs. Daniels was nominated by her mother to be our next News19 Teacher of the Week. Mrs. Daniels wants to thank her mom for inspiring her to teach and for the constant support throughout her career.
If you know a teacher like Mrs. Daniels who deserves to be recognized for their hard work in the classroom you can nominate them by emailing us at TOW@WLTX.COM. Tell us what that educator is doing every day to go above and beyond in the classroom.