We are "Cape Proud" of Cape Teacher and Alum Emily Walls

As I sat and listened at the new teacher welcome breakfast this past Wednesday morning, I discovered a very interesting Cape connection. Emily Walls, A CHSD graduate of 1999 had Mr. Robert Fulton, current Cape Henlopen School  District Superintendent for Math at the very beginning of Fulton’s career.

Emily, a fifth grade student at Milton Middle (the current Milton Elementary School building) encountered the newly minted young math teacher hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Emily fondly recalls that math was taught in the trailers behind the school at the time and that Mr. Fulton was a fun young teacher.

Since that time, Mr. Fulton has held many roles within the district until he ultimately landed as our current superintendent.  Emily Walls has also progressed from the trailer at Milton Middle School.  She is currently a special education teacher at the high school.  She is stationed on the 9^th and 10^th grade Spanish team where she assists a wide range of students on a daily basis.

Foreign languages are a requirement for every high school student, and for students with learning disabilities, a foreign language can be particularly challenging.  Therefore, Emily is stationed to facilitate their learning experience.  Her students range in need; so she has to be dynamic and flexible every day.

Emily did not begin her professional journey as an educator; she studied Fashion at Appalachian State where she also played Division 1 Field Hockey.

After graduating from college, she landed a job at Nordstrom Department Stores.  She then accepted a position as a buyer for K Coast in ocean City MD.

However, after Emily had her first son, she quickly realized that the lifestyle required in the apparel industry was not for her.  She decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in elementary education at Wilmington University.  Upon completion of her degree, Emily’s path crossed with Mr. Fulton again when he hired her as a para-educator.   After 3 ½ years in this position, she was hired for her current position as a full time special education teacher at the high school.

When I asked Emily what she remembered about her days at Cape, her first response was that her freshman year the field hockey team won the state championship title. In the true “one degree of separation” only known in Delaware, Carrie Lingo, last week’s “Cape Hero”  was also on that team.

Emily also emphatically stated that so many of her teachers were fantastic.  She remembered Aleda Thompson, who just retired from Cape last year, as a talented and kind English teacher.  She also mentioned “Fredman’s” classes where he introduced the students to contemporary issues.  Emily recalled that he was the first person to make the students aware of important news and topics that affected the community.

For Emily, life has come full circle, she graduated from Cape Henlopen School District and has two sons who attend Shields Elementary School and Little Vikings, and she is currently employed by Cape Henlopen School District. For us as a community, Emily Walls is certainly a shining example of an alumnus that makes all of us “Cape Proud”.

Please visit our new Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation (CHEF) website at www.chef-cape.org to learn more about CHEF's educational partnership with the Cape school district. We invite the entire Cape community to help us achieve our mission of preparing students for

a healthy, productive life in a diverse and global society.