Angela Seymour Retires from Crowder
May 18, 2022
Ezra DeVore
Angela Seymour, Director of the Crowder College in Cassville, is retiring from her position after 23 years of serving her community, staff, and students.
Angela grew up in Columbus, Nebraska, then went to the University of Missouri in Rolla, playing basketball as an engineering major. “While I was there,” Seymour says, “I fell in love with tutoring people in math, and changed my major to Math Education, which Rolla didn’t have, so I ended up transferring to Evangel in Springfield, and getting my degree in Math Education and a minor in science. Then, when I started looking for a job as a math teacher. I didn’t wanna go back to Nebraska. Winters there start before Halloween and end after Easter. I love it there, but I really loved how green it was down here, and the hills - it was just very pretty.”
Finding a job as a middle school math teacher and coach, Seymour taught at Southwest in Washburn from 1994 to 1999. In the middle of her final school year at Southwest, Crowder College was opening a campus in Cassville. Seymour applied to become the director, and “When I started, they were looking for a GED teacher who could also run the campus, I don’t think they knew the position of director was as big as it was. So I started working some of the night GED classes in January through May, and the final day of my contract with Southwest was May 16, 1999, so on May 17, 1999 I started at Crowder.”
In this time, Seymour taught both day and night GED classes, teaching college classes, and running the campus. “Three months into it,” Seymour states, “I even mowed the lawn. I was the only staff person until we hired one high school graduate to work as a secretary, Amber, then Jerri Hudson was hired as GED teacher, and I took on as campus director.”
After ten years of the former building, in 2009, newly built rooms and newly hired staff began piling on alongside new possibility, and the current building at 4020 Main Street in Cassville began production.
“My son was born three months before I interviewed for the position, and my daughter, she’s graduating now, so they’ve both grown up here in these buildings.” Seymour describes two lives that bloomed together: the community life of enriching the educational journeys of so many local youths and nontraditional students, as well as getting married and watching a family grow. Sometimes, these lives helped form each other. “I’ve got pictures of my daughter painting rooms,” Seymour says.
According to her, one of the most rewarding moments is helping students find the path that works for them.
“I love when somebody comes in and says ‘I’ve totally blown it, my GPA is terrible’ and I say ‘Well, my freshman transcript started with a zero, so it’s not the end of the world,’ and I can help them through it. I was blessed to get this position. I know that it was just God’s grace.”
As far as the next step for Angela Seymour, her ambitions have transferred to family. “I want to see my daughter’s ball games, maybe go out to San Diego to see my son. I’m ready to just be a mom.” Her son, Charlie, is in the Navy, and Seymour’s daughter, Sharayah, is graduating high school this year. Overall, Seymour feels this is a good time to retire, “But sitting in an office and crunching numbers for somebody, I could do that all day. I could start tutoring again, I don’t know what I want to do. I’m just happy to be here. My husband and I have no plans to leave Cassville, though. I’ve had people ask, ‘Are you going to stay in Cassville?’ and I say ‘Yeah! It’s a great town.’ My husband loves being a sixth grade teacher, I mean he loves it. It’s been amazing here, I love creating things, solving problems. Like, what new degree do we need here? What do the students need in our area? What would work here?” Like puzzle pieces, Seymour says she loves finding exactly what jobs our area needs, and trying to facilitate those with education. “I hope that the new director loves it,” she says.
Sarah Smith, of Cassville, will be taking Seymour’s position on the first of July. Smith graduated from Cassville High School and went on to earn her Bacherlors and Masters degrees at Crowder. “She’s very passionate about the community, and very excited,” Seymour concluded.
The retirement celebration for Angela Seymour will be held on Tuesday, May 24 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Crowder College, 4020 North Main Street, Cassville in the Student Lounge inside the main entrance.
Ezra DeVore
Angela Seymour, Director of the Crowder College in Cassville, is retiring from her position after 23 years of serving her community, staff, and students.
Angela grew up in Columbus, Nebraska, then went to the University of Missouri in Rolla, playing basketball as an engineering major. “While I was there,” Seymour says, “I fell in love with tutoring people in math, and changed my major to Math Education, which Rolla didn’t have, so I ended up transferring to Evangel in Springfield, and getting my degree in Math Education and a minor in science. Then, when I started looking for a job as a math teacher. I didn’t wanna go back to Nebraska. Winters there start before Halloween and end after Easter. I love it there, but I really loved how green it was down here, and the hills - it was just very pretty.”
Finding a job as a middle school math teacher and coach, Seymour taught at Southwest in Washburn from 1994 to 1999. In the middle of her final school year at Southwest, Crowder College was opening a campus in Cassville. Seymour applied to become the director, and “When I started, they were looking for a GED teacher who could also run the campus, I don’t think they knew the position of director was as big as it was. So I started working some of the night GED classes in January through May, and the final day of my contract with Southwest was May 16, 1999, so on May 17, 1999 I started at Crowder.”
In this time, Seymour taught both day and night GED classes, teaching college classes, and running the campus. “Three months into it,” Seymour states, “I even mowed the lawn. I was the only staff person until we hired one high school graduate to work as a secretary, Amber, then Jerri Hudson was hired as GED teacher, and I took on as campus director.”
After ten years of the former building, in 2009, newly built rooms and newly hired staff began piling on alongside new possibility, and the current building at 4020 Main Street in Cassville began production.
“My son was born three months before I interviewed for the position, and my daughter, she’s graduating now, so they’ve both grown up here in these buildings.” Seymour describes two lives that bloomed together: the community life of enriching the educational journeys of so many local youths and nontraditional students, as well as getting married and watching a family grow. Sometimes, these lives helped form each other. “I’ve got pictures of my daughter painting rooms,” Seymour says.
According to her, one of the most rewarding moments is helping students find the path that works for them.
“I love when somebody comes in and says ‘I’ve totally blown it, my GPA is terrible’ and I say ‘Well, my freshman transcript started with a zero, so it’s not the end of the world,’ and I can help them through it. I was blessed to get this position. I know that it was just God’s grace.”
As far as the next step for Angela Seymour, her ambitions have transferred to family. “I want to see my daughter’s ball games, maybe go out to San Diego to see my son. I’m ready to just be a mom.” Her son, Charlie, is in the Navy, and Seymour’s daughter, Sharayah, is graduating high school this year. Overall, Seymour feels this is a good time to retire, “But sitting in an office and crunching numbers for somebody, I could do that all day. I could start tutoring again, I don’t know what I want to do. I’m just happy to be here. My husband and I have no plans to leave Cassville, though. I’ve had people ask, ‘Are you going to stay in Cassville?’ and I say ‘Yeah! It’s a great town.’ My husband loves being a sixth grade teacher, I mean he loves it. It’s been amazing here, I love creating things, solving problems. Like, what new degree do we need here? What do the students need in our area? What would work here?” Like puzzle pieces, Seymour says she loves finding exactly what jobs our area needs, and trying to facilitate those with education. “I hope that the new director loves it,” she says.
Sarah Smith, of Cassville, will be taking Seymour’s position on the first of July. Smith graduated from Cassville High School and went on to earn her Bacherlors and Masters degrees at Crowder. “She’s very passionate about the community, and very excited,” Seymour concluded.
The retirement celebration for Angela Seymour will be held on Tuesday, May 24 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Crowder College, 4020 North Main Street, Cassville in the Student Lounge inside the main entrance.