Sandra McClure has been a part of Chapman for 33 years now as a Spanish teacher, watching the school and Inman change and grow.

“It’s obvious the things that have changed would be technology, that’s the biggest change,” McClure said. “Computers were just starting to be used sparingly in the 80s. Now, of course, everyone has their own technology, not to mention our city has grown and more people have come in to our population has grown.”

However, despite the changes in technology and the growth that has come to Inman, the remaining qualities are McClure’s favorite part of Chapman and the town as a whole.

“The thing that I like about Chapman is what has not changed,” McClure said. “The people still love this area and love this school. Our culture has not changed because we are still a loving community; we still have that connection, support and care from everyone.”

Over the years, McClure has gotten the chance to teach entire families that have stayed and grown in Inman.

“I’m teaching grand-students because I have taught their parents, and their parents have loved it and have stayed and supported, and now I have their children and sets of siblings,” McClure said.

Junior Kennedy Howard had McClure as her Spanish I, II and III teacher.

“Mrs. McClure taught my sister from Spanish I to Spanish IV,” Howard said. “Knowing that she already knew my family made me feel more comfortable, and we had a stronger personal connection, rather than just teaching the material because she knew and would ask about different aspects of mine and my sister’s lives.”

McClure says teaching a foreign language wasn’t her first choice but one that she wouldn’t change in any way.

“Spanish was not my first major; my major was history,” McClure said. “It was what God wanted me to do. He kept turning me around towards it so I went back and finished my degree in foreign language. It was exactly what God knew was best for me.”

Teaching Spanish is more than just a job for McClure, it’s an opportunity for deeper connections and helping people around her.

“It allows me to share that love with my students, but it also allows me to help people in the community. I get to teach students about the language, culture and how to love other people, but I personally get to help and love those people in the community,” McClure said. “I can look back and say God’s hand was just moving me where He knew He wanted me to be.”

McClure tries to instill in her students the fact that learning the language is more than just vocabulary and worksheets; it’s real life.

“She always told us stories and shared her different experiences with how she’s helped different people just by being able to speak Spanish to them to get us to realize it’s real life,” Howard said. “We also get to take trips like Costa Rica that put students in different environments and get us to hear and speak the language.”

Experiences in different places help everyone involved to become aware of different lifestyles and use the things being taught in the classroom.

“It helps them to see, hear and use this language that they’ve been studying to see that it’s real and not just  something in a textbook,” McClure said. “They get to experience a different culture and realize people do not live like we do in Inman, SC. It truly is an eye-opening experience.”

Pushing students out of their comfort zone in and out of the classroom is something that McClure focuses on.

“It’s always important to get students out of their comfort zone and push them to use what they have been learning and at the same time realizing how fortunate they are to be born and raised in the United States,” McClure said.

“Getting up and having to speak the language and act in skits puts us in those uncomfortable scenarios but it helps us learn it,” Howard said. “If you’re always comfortable then when you’re trying to speak outside of the classroom and that pressure is on, then you’ll forget everything. Mrs. McClure is really good on making sure we’re learning and not just memorizing, while making it fun at the same time.”

Overall, Spanish is more than just a language and is important to interacting with people who have different lifestyles than we do, and McClure has been a big part in instilling that in her students over the past 33 years.

“Now it’s not just us anymore. The world is in our backyard. We live with people from all nationalities and in order to get along with them and understand them to become a productive society, we need to learn about each other,” McClure said.