Mrs. Hilton's Bio

Education:   
Connie Duquette Hilton graduated as salutatorian of Falkville High School in 1987.   Believe it or not, she was painfully shy before college!

After high school, Mrs. Hilton attended Judson College for two years, where she shook hands with the likes of Barbara Bush, Misha Dichter, and many, many more important people.    While at Judson, Mrs. Hilton was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Bracy Campbell, who taught Reba McEntire and thought it was an absolute shame that a girl with such talent would trade it all for a career in country music!   Mrs. Hilton also participated in Class Act Drama, catching the role of Camellia in Professor Zuccini’s Traveling Tales.  After the cast was cut in half, Mrs. Hilton also played Gorgonzola and a sheep—and discovered just how much difference acting opposite different actors can make in an actress’ performance.

In 1989, Mrs. Hilton transferred to the University of North Alabama, where she met Professor Paul Jones, III, and decided that Spanish was definitely for her. She also met Dr. William Foster and decided that English was definitely for her too (despite his crazy grading scale)!

While at UNA, Mrs. Hilton took as many music courses as she could—barely missing a minor in music by just a few courses. She loved applied voice the most! She also auditioned for and was cast in the 1991 production of Brave New World, starring UNA alumna Edie Hand. Alumnus George Lindsey attended one of the performances, and consented to have his picture taken with Mrs. Hilton, who was still in that dreadful costume.

Mrs. Hilton graduated from the University of North Alabama cum laude in May 1991. She was recognized as the graduating senior with the highest grade point average in Spanish (4.0).

In the fall of 1994, Mrs. Hilton began attending Athens State College in pursuit of a Bachelors of Education, Secondary Education, Language Arts. She graduated with honors from Athens State in May of 1996. 

In December 2007, Mr. Hilton convinced Mrs. Hilton that she was, indeed, Superwoman, and she began taking online classes toward her Masters degree.  Despite the craziness of working full-time, rearing two young children, and producing two plays a year, Mrs. Hilton survived the ordeal and has remained mostly sane.  She finished her classes at the end of July 2009 with a 3.917 grade point average.

Mrs. Hilton has been inducted into the following honor societies: Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Tau Delta, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Sigma Iota, and Kappa Delta Pi.

Experience:

Mrs. Hilton got her start in education when Mr. Bobby Linton needed a bilingual migrant teacher at Fairview School. She loved teaching, and after Principal Keith Pattillo asked what it would take for her to become certified, Mrs. Hilton began classes toward certification at Athens State College.

Mrs. Hilton completed her student teaching at Hartselle High School in 1996. After that, she worked at West Morgan for two years, teaching English and Spanish.

In 1998, Mrs. Hilton happily joined the faculty at Fairview again, teaching reading and English.

From 1999 to 2001, Mrs. Hilton taught with Life Christian Academy, a homeschool in Harvest, Alabama.

After that time, Mrs. Hilton worked a variety of jobs outside of the field of education for the next ten years. She says the most exciting of those was doing the web page at WHNT-TV in Huntsville. During this time, WHNT introduced their “Tools for Schools” initiative, and Mrs. Hilton began to miss teaching.

In 2005, Mrs. Hilton began working at Vinemont High School, teaching English and Spanish. Mrs. Hilton says that Vinemont has felt like home from the time she first walked through the door.

Personal: Mrs. Hilton has been very happily married to Phillip Hilton since 1999. They have two beautiful children (Jayden and Vaelyn), two cats (Nadine and Peter Parker), and two dogs (Sasha and Stormy). Jayden is 6, and his sister Vaelyn is almost 5.  The 2009-2010 school year brought many changes to the Hilton family:  it is Jayden's first year in school and Vaelyn's first year in day care.

When (okay. . . if) she manages to find free time, Mrs. Hilton likes to read, sing, take pictures, cook, write, sew, and act.

Disclaimer: You guys said you wanted a bio, so here it is!