She was filling in for Marie Cartner, and Jill must have made a pretty good impression.
This month she was rewarded for 20 years of service to Deni High.
Her current role is as a learning support officer.
They story goes that the then Deni High deputy principal must have realised what a gem he had in Jill, asking her “what are you up to next year?”.
Jill replied, “I don’t know”, and she was offered a permanent job as a teacher’s aide for the new school year.
It was a job Jill was "extremely happy“ to take.
After a few years in the role, the title was changed to learning support officer and Jill has occupied the role ever since.
Her support for the students with a disability has been invaluable helping them gain the best possible results across all key learning areas, and life skills needed for work and independence.
One of Jill’s most memorable moments occurred in a Primary Industry class, which proved a pivotal point in her realisation of social acceptance many years ago.
“All the students were fooling around and singing What About Me when a female student entered the class and was having an extremely bad day,” Jill recalls.
“I was assisting a student with a disability and was unsure of how he would feel about integrating to the class.
“When the female student yelled at the class to ‘shut up’, the student with a disability yelled back ‘you too Daniel’.
“This caused the class to erupt with laughter and it was the first notable sense of the student just ‘being one of the boys’.
“The student in question is now in his 30s, and to this day has been invited to classmates’ weddings, 21st birthdays and other milestone events. He is still just one of the boys.”
Jill’s said her goal, and the reason she has stayed with Deni Hgh so long, is to “help the kids learn to achieve and attain success in life”.
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