By Jim Beers, Contributing Writer
CHESTER — Chester School District No. 139 has several new teachers for the 2021-22 school year and one is Rana Hodge.
Rana Hodge is a new English teacher at Chester High School. She teaches all sophomore level English classes. She is also the CHS Theatre Club Sponsor and will be directing the CHS Theatre Production of the stage play, “Tuck Everlasting”, this March 17-19 at CHS Juergens Gym Stage. Jim Beers Photo
Hodge is a new English teacher at Chester High School and teaches all of the sophomore English classes. She also is the sponsor for the CHS Theatre Club and will direct CHS Theatre Productions.
Miss Hodge was born in 1988 to Randy and Jackie Hodge in Berwyn, Illinois. Berwyn is a suburb of Chicago and Rana spent much of her early years frequently visiting with her grandmother in the city.
Rana attended Brookport Elementary School until her fourth grade year when her family moved to Metropolis, Illinois. Her father was a mechanic who learned most of his skills as a member of the United States Army where he worked on tanks. Her mother works as a business woman and later began a career in teaching Special Education.
Miss Hodge graduated from Metropolis Junior High in 2002 after which she attended high school at Massac County High School. During high school she played volleyball and began playing the saxophone and guitar.
At an early age she became interested in film-making and becoming a writer and spent much of her time as a teen involved with those interests. At the age of 14, as a sophomore, Hodge began working at a job at the Metropolis Dairy Queen. She had a great work ethic and was highly thought of at her place of employment.
Throughout high school Miss Hodge loved English and Biology classes the most and worker hard in her academics because she immediately knew that he wanted to go to college. Her desire to help earn her way through college motivated her to quit playing high school volleyball and spend as much time as possible working at the Dairy Queen.
The summer prior to graduating from high school, Miss Hodge spent the entire summer vacation in Los Angeles, California taking classes in anatomy and physiology. She graduated from Massac County High School in May of 2006.
The next fall Miss Hodge spent a year the University of Maine Machias where she studied writing. While there Hodge was awarded the “Dead Poets Society Award” for being the most promising writer.
After a year away from Southern Illinois, Hodge moved back to the area and attended Shawnee Community College where she earned an Associates of Arts Degree in the spring of 2008.
From 2009-2010 Miss Hodge pursued a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in English and Creative Writing from Grand Canyon University. She graduated in May of 2010. During this time she also began working at the Metropolis and Carbondale Community Libraries.
In 2011 Hodge moved to Carbondale where she spent the next six years. She began working for a fledgling film company, “The Consumer Grade Film Company” where she became familiar with set and still photography. During that time she helped to produce numerous local films and documentaries.
Rana’s mother taught special education and on one occasion in 2016 her mother was part of a panel during a lecture at John A. Logan College. She spoke about her passion regarding lecturing and teaching and Rana was in the audience listening. Her mother’s speech motivated her to begin pursuing a teaching career.
In 2017, Rana began working on a Master’s Degree in Education at McKendree University. In 2019 she moved to Pinckneyville, Illinois where she still lives with her young daughter and fiancée. Her fiancée is the Director of the Pinckneyville Public Library.
In May of 2021 Miss Hodge finished her Master’s Degree in Education. That summer she taught her first high school classes at Freeburg, Illinois for the Summer School Session. That fall she began her first full-time teaching assignment at Chester High School.
At CHS Hodge teaches all sophomore English classes and is the Theatre Club Sponsor. Hodge said, “I really like our students. They are very intuitive, creative, and friendly. Teachers and staff have been very welcoming and I am really glad to be here!”
“I am still trying to figure out everything about this new and exciting career, but all is going well and I am excited to be able to teach and influence my students.”
((INSERT PHOTO…TUCK EVERLASTING…HERE))
In addition to being in the second semester of her teaching career, Hodge is finding her way through being the director of her first high school play in her role as the CHS Theatre Club Sponsor. March 17-19 Hodge and her Theatre Club will be opening the curtain on the play, “Tuck Everlasting”.
The show will run each evening at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday March 17, Friday March18, and Saturday March 19, and on Saturday March 19 in the afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. matinee. Specifics are still in the works regarding the show, but details will be announced shortly.
Currently Miss Hodge commutes from Pinckneyville where she lives with her fiancée Alex Fisher and 2-year-old daughter Glory. Rana still enjoys working with the film company, “Consumer Grade Film Company” and has produced several films for numerous film festivals. People can check out her work and the work of the company on Instagram.
Besides teaching and film-making, Miss Hodge enjoys following her fiancée’s band, “Topple” across the area. Alex is a singer and guitar player with the group.
Miss Hodge is happy with her teaching experiences at Chester High School and has a goal of revitalizing the school library at some point. With her extensive experience in working in libraries at both Metropolis and Carbondale, she has many ideas regarding the revitalization of the CHS student library.