Anissa Demiter
e-mail: ademiter@wpcc.edu
Anissa Demiter with her family
I am Anissa Demiter. I have been teaching English for over 18 years. I know it sounds cliché, but I have always wanted to be a teacher, even as a small child.
I am a Burke County native. I graduated from East Burke High School and attended Western Piedmont Community College the following fall.
I transferred from WPCC and received my undergraduate degree in English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I pursued a teaching career in Burke County, trying my hand at teaching middle school students. It was a wonderful, rewarding experience! I went back to school to achieve my NC teaching license as well as a Masters in Middle Grades Education from Gardner Webb University. I went on to teach at East Burke Middle School (Burke County Public Schools) for 9 years and enjoyed it immensely. As voted on by my peers, I was “Teacher of the Year” at East Burke Middle for the 2002-2003 school year. This was a humbling experience!
While in my 9th year of teaching in the public school system, I decided to take on a part-time teaching job at WPCC. I taught Developmental Reading and Writing courses at night. I also worked part-time for Catawba Valley Community College teaching in the GED lab. I fell in love with the community college setting as well as working with the community college student! This fueled my drive for yet another degree so that I could ultimately teach college English courses full-time. While teaching part-time for WPCC and part-time for CVCC, as well as juggling two children under the age of two, I ventured back to school (online) and earned a degree focusing on Multi-Cultural and Transnational Literatures from East Carolina University. I worked part-time for WPCC from 2008-2012 and was hired full-time in 2012.
I have been an English Instructor at WPCC for over 9 years now. I have served in various leadership roles such as The Phi Theta Kappa Advisory Board Chair, United Way Campaign Leader, and the Fall Speakers’ Forum Coordinator. I have also been a member of the educator’s sorority called Delta Kappa Gamma – Alpha Nu Chapter. This sorority provides support for teachers and students in Burke County as well as Caldwell. In addition to teaching classes at WPCC, I also teach CCP (Career and College Promise) English courses at East Burke High School.
I am a firm believer in the power of an education. I believe it is an opportunity available to us and we owe it to ourselves to seek, learn, and apply that knowledge to better our own lives and the lives of others around us. WPCC’s mission aligns very closely with my own personal mission as an instructor. I think it is so important to offer “accessible, high-quality education that improves lives and promotes growth within the community” (WPCC Mission Statement). I genuinely care about the success of my students and work hard to ensure they have the skills they need to move on to the next level.
When I am not teaching, I enjoy reading. I can get lost in a book! I love the classics as well as contemporary novels, preferably while lounging under an umbrella with my toes in the sand!