Kimberly Hughes is a freshman and sophomore AVID/English teacher at Cesar Chavez High School and is widely considered one of the most well respected teachers on campus by both students and staff alike. Mrs. Hughes has worked extremely hard to get to where she is and that’s something to be extremely proud of. She began teaching twenty-five years ago at John Marshall Middle School for fifteen years. Before coming to teach for Chavez, she taught at Stagg High School for only a year, after that year she transferred here and has been a proud Titan ever since.

Being raised in Stockton, creating bonds, or having similarities with her students has been an easy task to achieve. Mrs. Hughes received her AA from our very own Delta Community College, from here she went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree from Sac State University. Of course being a teacher, she would need a teaching credential, which she earned from also Stockton’s own University of the Pacific. After her bachelor’s she kept on pursuing more education and received her Master’s degree from National University.

Mrs. Hughes is usually in control of her emotions and handles her class very calmly and respectfully. However, even the best of teachers are not immune to embarrassing situations.  Mrs. Hughes shared an embarrassing story with us, “I picked up a box off of the ground and about seven roaches came out so I jumped up on the desk and just tried to kill them all. I shouted and might have even sweared a little bit.” Of course this occurred with a full class of freshman students looking on. 

Mrs. Hughes inspiration to become a teacher came from teachers she had in high school who had a significant amount of influence on her. If it wasn’t for their influence, she would have followed her other dream of becoming a psychologist. Not only that, but she confesses that she enjoys being challenged everyday with something new because she would be bored doing the same thing at a job everyday. Current and former students of Mrs. Hughes have noticed how often many former students go back to visit her way out in M wing, which led us to ask how she creates so many amazing bonds with her students. Her response was heartwarming, “I genuinely like and care about my kids, they’re not just a paycheck to me”.

The things that have interested Mrs. Hughes the most about our school is the AVID program, the 4×4 block schedule, Delta college courses, and how her colleagues are awesome to work with.  She confesses that although being a teacher is something she highly enjoys, it affects her personal life because she spends more time at school than at home with family, but is grateful of her work schedule due to the fact that it matches up with her children’s school schedules. Being a teacher has also made her much more patient with her own three children. “The only thing I would want to change about working here, is the distance from my classroom to the restroom and the horrid amount of time it takes to grade essays.”

Mrs. Hughes is a teacher who is highly looked up to by not only students, but colleagues and parents as well. She expresses her Titan Spirit by having her classroom beautifully decorated and always dressing with her Health gear on Wednesday, and Titan gear every Friday. Thank you Mrs. Hughes. We appreciate you.