Supervising the parent drop off in the morning is security guard Rodessa Scoggins. She greets everyone she sees, rain or shine, with a bright smile and a cheerful “Good morning.” At 7 a.m., it is easy not to interact with anyone at all, but Scoggins makes it her goal to be a friendly face early in the morning.
“I think [Scoggins is] a very friendly person, and looks like she enjoys interacting with everybody,” FHN mother and substitute teacher Monika Lobato said. “She’s a very warm face to see in the morning.”
After her shift at parent drop off, Scoggins secures all the school doors and returns to the front of the building to check the late arriving students for their blended passes. Throughout the day, Scoggins can be found in the hallways or in her office in the English hallway across from room 1224. She also supervises lunch periods every other day. She then checks blended passes again at the end of the day and monitors parent pickup.
“[Scoggins is] really nice,” junior Lillyanne Wardle said. “She always says ‘Hi’ to us in the hallway when we leave early for blended classes, and she always greets us in the morning.”
This is Scoggins’ second year working at FHN. She was initially given her position as a temporary placement last year, but was offered an official position this year. This was offered to her as she was not only good at her job but also enjoyed it, and the staff and students enjoyed her as well.
“Last year, I just loved all the people,” Scoggins said. “The kids, the students, the parents, I talked to everybody. And I will talk to you five to 10 times a day if I see you in the hallway.”
Prior to living in the St. Charles area, Scoggins lived in South Carolina, where she was born, and eventually raised her own family there. Growing up, Scoggins was the oldest of four children and often took care of her younger siblings.
“It was a lot of responsibility,” Scoggins said. “I had to go to school, then I had to come home because both of my parents worked. And I had to get lunch for my brother and sisters and make sure they got their homework done.”
Scoggins took care of her siblings from a very young age, starting when she was nine. When she was 16 years old, she drove the school bus for her school.
“Back home, you could drive a bus at 16,” Scoggins said. “You can’t now, but I would pick up my kids on the way to school. Then we would all get to school, and we would go in school and do our school work. I would get them in the evening and take them back home.”
Along the way, Scoggins’ life has had many ups and downs, not only in her having to help raise her siblings, but also in the tragic passing of two of her children. While these moments could have defined her, she looks past them and continues to be a happy and bright person to the people around her.
“Even when things happened to [my husband and I], it didn’t make us bitter,” Scoggins said. “We weren’t angry, we just love people, we go on with life. We know everything happens for a reason, for whatever happens. So you live with it, and you learn to move on.”
