By Don Hall
News-Leader staff
In Nashville, Ark., we have a saying: “Once a Scrapper, always a Scrapper.”
Kimberly Perez was born 22 years ago in Texarkana. Her parents were Nashville residents, and from the day they first brought her to Nashville from the hospital, this has been her home.
Five years after Perez arrived on the planet and in Nashville, she started to kindergarten at Nashville Primary School. After that it was Nashville Elementary, Nashville Junior High, and then Nashville High School.
At NHS, Perez was a cheerleader, and while she was good at cheering, she was great at something else. As a defensive player on the Scrapperette soccer team, she’s remembered by the nickname so many fans gave her: The Leg.
Most defensive players, since they stay on their own end of the field, don’t ever have a chance to score a goal. Perez scored 12, with about half those being from more than 50 yards away. Opposing teams knew all about The Leg.
After graduation, Perez decided to attend Southern Arkansas University. “Magnolia,” she said, “was not huge, but it was bigger than Nashville.”
Perez had planned on becoming a lawyer, but changed her mind as a sophomore at SAU. “By my second year in college, I knew I wanted to teach.” The decision on what to teach was easy.
All her life, she had spoken Spanish. Her last semester in college, before graduating with a degree in Foreign Languages, Perez was a student teacher in Spanish at – guess where? Nashville High School.
“Nashville is a great town to grow up in, and a great town to come back to,” she says. While many young people are anxious to leave the town they came from, Perez was ready to come home.
She began as a full-fledged teacher this semester at NHS, teaching Spanish, English as a Second Language (ESL), and Workplace Readiness.
In Spanish class, Perez said, “I teach them phrases that they will actually need to learn to have a conversation, as well as colors and shapes.” Her white board is covered with Spanish words, and her room is decorated with all things Hispanic.
“This is Hispanic Heritage Month,” she said, “so they’re also learning about different people who had a huge impact on Hispanic culture. They’re researching them right now.”
How does it feel to come home, we ask?
“I love Nashville. I love how everybody knows everybody here. I love the sense of community and support in Nashville.”
Perez also loves her animals. Her family owns land just outside of town. “I have 40 chickens now, 2 horses, 12 cows, and 2 peacocks.” That’s not counting a variety of dogs and cats.
When asked about working at Nashville High School, her alma mater, she said, “I love it! But teaching is not what I expected. You never know what’s going to happen. It changes every day.”
“I think it’s crazy, since I grew up and graduated from here, that I teach with a lot of my former teachers,”she said.
“I feel like I’m so young and I blend in with the kids,” Perez said. She wears a teacher I.D. on a lanyard around her neck because so many people, young and old, mistook her initially as a student.
“Oh!” she remembers with a smile. “So you’re Ms. Pérez!”
Where do you see yourself five years from now? “Still teaching Spanish and Workplace Readiness,” she answers. “I like those classes. I want to be here, still. And maybe helping on the soccer team.” The Leg still has more to offer, once again proving the Nashville saying:
“Once a Scrapper, always a Scrapper.”
