Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 13

Hope Hall: Living and teaching “an interesting life.”
Two years after the New Media Center classrooms opened
at Thornton Academy, faculty are busy teaching students
everything from 3D Graphics to Computer Programming
to Journalism in the high-tech classrooms. Postscripts
visited one of these teachers—Hope Hall—both in the
classroom and at home on her Sunflower Creamery farm
in Cumberland. She shared what inspires her teaching of
journalism.
“My mother was an English teacher when I was growing
up and I still admire her very much. I always wanted to
follow in her footsteps. The only other thing I considered
being was a veterinarian.
“The one thing we are most starved for in today’s very busy
world is stories. They make us feel human and connected.
Great journalists know that there are amazing stories just
below the surface of every interaction. These stories are a
gift that only artful, careful writers have the ability to fully
honor.
“The same is true of being in a classroom. Teaching allows

me the honor of learning who my students are beneath the
surface. We all carry around amazing burdens and joys each
day. Students’ stories follow me into my life outside of school
and make me a better person.
“Teaching makes me want to live an interesting life so that
I have lots to share with the students in my classroom. I
love the connectedness that comes with working a farm.
It reminds me daily that nothing works in isolation. The
weather affects the hay, which affects my goats’ health, which
affects the milk, which affects the cheese, which affects the
health and joy of my farm’s visitors. I found this to be an
infectious idea that propelled me forward and helped me
establish a commercial dairy.”
Hope and her husband—Thornton Academy teacher
Chris Hall—raise pygmy goats and milk them for cheese
production. Their video “The Running of the Goats” went
viral on YouTube and has received nearly 4 million views.
You can watch it at https://youtu.be/_2_-i_cohMM or visit
Postscripts online to see Hope’s goats dressed in maroon and
gold for a spirit week video.

Captions: (left) Hope carries hay from her barn out to feed
the pygmy goats and donkeys in her pasture and (right) Hope
teaches her journalism students how to analyze and distinguish
the difference between the structure of a news story and a feature
story.

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