Heidi Ruddick has "always been a teacher, just by nature." But her journey to becoming Meridian's junior high math teacher involved multiple detours, career shifts, and a lifelong love of numbers.

Growing up in Dongola, just 20 miles north of Meridian, Ruddick attended the same small school from kindergarten through 12th grade. After high school, her career aspirations pointed in several directions—nursing, accounting, even business administration—before she found her way to the classroom.

"I actually kind of wanted to go into nursing," Ruddick recalls. "And then I ended up somehow thinking I wanted to be an accountant just because I love numbers and math." A friend's reality check—"You're gonna hate accounting. You love people too much"—steered her away from a career of spreadsheets and toward what would become her true calling.

Though her path wasn't linear, mathematics remained a constant thread. While attending Shawnee College, she tutored math. During a two-year stint in California, she helped teach math at a Christian college and worked with autistic children. When she returned to Southern Illinois, she found herself in various roles—from law firm employee to school secretary—but math kept pulling her back.

"I've been teaching for years," she says. "If I wanted to teach or tutor anything, that's what I've done."

After getting married and starting a family (she now has sons aged 16 and 10), Ruddick worked part-time at a law firm while completing her business degree. When her younger son started pre-K, she began working at his school as an aide for a student with autism. But when COVID-19 arrived her position changed.

"I subbed a lot because I had a bachelor's degree," she explains. "They were like, 'Will you please sub?' So I ended up subbing a ton from grades kindergarten to eighth grade."

That experience led to a position in a special education classroom, where she worked for three years. A brief stint with kindergartners followed, but Ruddick knew she needed "a lot more challenge."

"I love the special ed part of it, but I also need a lot more challenge. And I like junior high kids," she says with a smile. "Not everybody does, but I really do."

When the math teacher position at Meridian opened, Ruddick couldn't resist applying. Despite offers from other districts—one wanted her as a secretary, another as a business teacher, and the law firm invited her back full-time—she chose to follow her passion. "What I love most is math," she says simply.

Now in her first year teaching junior high math, Ruddick brings an unusual breadth of experience to her classroom. Her work with special education students has given her tools to help struggling learners, while her tutoring background helps her break down complex concepts for her sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.

She approaches math instruction with both rigor and compassion. "If they're absent, been absent for three or four days sick, I don't like to post assignments online. They don't know how to do it," she explains. Instead, she tells them, "Don't worry about it. Get well, come back, and I'll pull you in and we'll catch you up together."

Besides teaching, Ruddick co-sponsors the school's Scholar Bowl team, a competition she participated in during her own school days. Student participation surged from 5-6 members to around 24 when they learned she would be involved. "We actually ended up winning a match against Cairo, and they were so excited," she says with pride.

Though still working toward her teaching certification, which she can complete in nine months, Ruddick has found her professional home. "I love it," she says of teaching math at Meridian. "It's challenging, but I do love it."