Tiffany Hassell-Abel, band director at Bear Grass Charter School, was WITN’s Teacher of the Week on Sept. 7.

After graduating from Columbia High School, she earned a bachelor’s in music education and a master’s degree in percussion performance from East Carolina University.

This is her fifth year as director of bands at Bear Grass Charter School. Her 22 years of teaching also includes 15 years at Bear Grass School and two years at South Creek High School, all in Martin County.

This year Hassell-Abel is teaching three middle school band classes, a guitar class and a high school band class. She also leads the Bears Giving Community Service 4-H Club at the school, heads up both Homecoming and the school’s annual Fall Festival and is a Bear Grass Chicken Mull Festival committee member.

She and her husband, John Abel Jr., have a son, Noah, who is a sixth-grader at BGCS. She is the pianist at Soundside Missionary Baptist Church in Columbia where she also presents the Children’s Sermon each Sunday.

Hassell-Abel is passionate about teaching music and hopes that her love of performing and creating music are passed on to her students. One of her favorite things about teaching is having a former student stop by, call or email to let her know how they are doing. She says she loves to hear about their accomplishments in life and how taking band was such an important step in their success. Hassell-Abel also thoroughly enjoys living and teaching in the Bear Grass Community where everyone feels like family and is so involved in the music program.

She says, “As our motto at Bear Grass says: Every day is a great day at Bear Grass Charter School.”