TRM teacher, cheer sponsor to retire after 34 years

This is the time in the school year for teachers and administrators to think about retirement. Several longtime employees of the Brewton City System are retiring at the end of the school year and some even before then.

Beverly Haveard will be retiring from T.R. Miller High School after 34 years of teaching, 29 of them at the high school. Perhaps many know her for her 26 years of being the cheerleader sponsor for the T.R. Miller Tigers.

“Not long after I came here, Shirley Cotten, who was the sponsor, asked me to help her with the cheerleading,” said Haveard. “When she retired, I became the sponsor, and I have been doing it for the past 26 years.”

Not only is she the cheerleader sponsor, but she also teaches special education.

“I love it,” she said. “Every day is different.

“When I first started teaching, it was a lot different than it is today,” she said. “I love what I do.

“I have seen lots of changes and made a lot of friends,” she said. “I’m sure that I will miss coming to school every day, but I wanted to retire while I can still enjoy it. Also, my granddaughter is a senior this year and we will ‘graduate’ together.”

Haveard said she plans to spend more time with family after her retirement.

“And I want to do some traveling while I am still physically able to enjoy it.”

Haveard was born and raised in Brewton. She grew up in Alco and graduated from TRM in 1975.

“My parents graduated from T.R. Miller also,” she said. “I got married before college and had two sons, Shon and Bart. I then went to college at West Florida, graduating in 1981.”

Her first teaching job was at Brewton Middle School. After six years, she transitioned to the high school.

She said she always wanted to teach special education and that she has enjoyed it very much.

“I never liked to do things the same way all the time and things are always changing in special ed,” Haveard said.

“We worked mostly with learning disabilities when I first started teaching, but now things are being done differently,” she said. “Even the cheerleading has changed. It’s much more athletic than it used to be. We are a part of the Universal Cheerleading Association and have learned safer ways to do the stunt cheering.”

Cheerleaders today are physically fit and many of the girls get scholarships for college. One of the places they go for training is at the University of Alabama. Haveard said the cheerleaders always enjoy going there.

Haveard said she is looking forward to spending time with her family and being more active in her church.

She is in the choir and teaches four and five-year olds in Sunday school at First Baptist Church of Brewton.