Daniels had taken three years away from the classroom after St. Julie Billiart School in Hamilton closed. She didn’t think she’d ever teach again. “God had other plans for me,” the award-winning art teacher smiled.
“I had prayed for a sign about where my career path would take me next,” she recalled. “One night, I woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning, went downstairs to our computer – and there was an opening for an art teacher at Badin High School. My parents were both teachers and did not live long – I think they were looking down on me. I thought teaching high school art would be totally different (after nine years at St. Julie Billiart). Was it ever!”
Daniels has transformed the Badin Art Department into a gold standard at the co-ed Catholic school on New London Road in Hamilton. A year-end art show at the Fitton Center, regular entries in various art competitions, an Advanced Placement class – art has become a “go-to” elective at Badin.
“It has been a spectacular ride,” Daniels said. She and her husband, Todd, live in Hamilton and are the parents of adult twin daughters. “I like sharing with my students. We are all here for a purpose and we all make mistakes. We must learn from them and grow. I mean, if I have learned anything, it is that we must meet each other on common ground.”
“Sarah’s humor, love of teaching and service to Badin will be sorely missed by all,” BHS Principal Patrick Keating ’07 said. “She has poured her heart and soul into the art program, serving as a transformative Art Department Chair. Her unwavering dedication to teaching visual arts at all levels has fostered a creative haven for our students, elevating Badin’s art program to a point where it’s truly a destination for young artists in the area.
Daniels has been named an Educator of the Year in the Harry T. Wilks “Hamilton Celebrates Education” program through the Hamilton Community Foundation twice – in its very first year, 2003, while working at St. Julie Billiart; and in 2020 at Badin.
“Obviously, I’ve had standout artists who have exceeded my expectations,” Daniels said. “But it is the student conversations during class while I’m helping them with their artwork that mean the most. They inspire me in so many ways each day, and they never cease to surprise me. One of my Art IV students this year said that I have no filter. I guess I really don’t. I am real.”
Daniels is a published author whose first novel, “The Chairs”, will be featured during a book signing from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. May 10 at Sara’s House in downtown Hamilton. If she had to sum up her Badin teaching tenure in a story, she said ‘The Three Graces’ would be an accurate depiction of her daily observations in the hallways of Badin.
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