WINNSBORO, S.C. — The music is beautiful in the orchestra room at Fairfield Central High School with our next News19 Teacher of the Week front and center.
Naiesha Wise taught four years in middle school and four years in high school and worked to build the music program to what it is today.
“No matter your level, beginner or been playing for a couple years, if you keep pushing through, you can do it. It will get hard some time, but if you want to do it, we work together, teamwork, and we'll make it rock,” says Wise.
Wise teaches her students that practice makes perfect.
“Her teaching style and techniques definitely helped me. She's more like a hands-on teacher, so that really helped,” says Joselin Ruiz Casdro, a student at Fairfield Central.
“Beyond the classroom, when I graduate, I'm going to stay her friend. She's just a great person all around,” says Javon Samuel, a student at Fairfield Central.
Wise sometimes picks up her strings and joins her students.
"I'll play with community orchestras whenever I can, just to keep playing. I'll play the violin with my students to help them with the parts and everything. But yeah, always got to keep playing," says Wise.
Born in Northeast Columbia and a graduate from Winthrop University, she thanks her teachers for keeping a bow in her hand.
“My orchestra teachers through middle school and high school really encouraged me and let me know that I could do things, and I just kept going. So, I hope I can do the same for my students,” says Wise.
“She's definitely a great teacher. I know she goes out of her way to help each student individually, to help with their own needs. So that's really a good thing about her,” says Ruiz Casdro.
“I really appreciate y'all. I literally can't do what I do without y'all. I know it gets hard sometimes but remember all the good times and how we work together and the beautiful music that we create for people. We make music for people to hear,” says Wise.
Wise is also one of the conductors for the South Carolina Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and helps navigate the Concert Performance Assessment within the state.
If you know a teacher like Ms. Wise 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.