White Hall High School secretary celebrates earning college degree

White Hall High Secretary Leslie Mitchell was surprised with an in-school graduation ceremony after completing her bachelor’s degree but missing her graduation.

WHITE HALL, Ark. — The front office at White Hall High School may be known for its warm welcome, but this week, that welcome belonged to secretary Leslie Mitchell. 

Her usual routine was interrupted by a surprise graduation ceremony honoring her latest accomplishment— earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas.

“Good morning, guys. I didn’t know I had to say that the news was coming just to get you in here to eat some donuts,” Principal Nathan Sullivan joked as staff gathered for the last faculty meeting of the year. “But you know, here, we always like to celebrate anytime we get a chance to fellowship and celebrate an accomplishment of ourselves, collectively or individually. And this morning is a little bit about a celebration of an individual.”

Sullivan shared how Mitchell’s journey back to school began.

“A couple of years ago, I hounded this person to go and finish a degree because there was potential in this person to be in the classroom. She’s a mother and a wife, and she did it,” Sullivan said, met by applause from the room. “She passed her Praxis Saturday. And real quickly, she’s going to have that piece of paper, that license, in her hand. Now she didn’t get to go to her graduation. That’s how selfless she is. She skipped her own graduation to go to her niece’s graduation in Oklahoma. So today is her graduation ceremony.”

Among those in attendance at Mitchell’s celebration was Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva.

“I always like to say it’s not necessarily about the destination, but it’s about that journey,” Oliva said. “It’s about that desire to always continuously improve and do better. And today, we’re able to celebrate a staff member who’s part of the Bulldog family that helped raise them and push them on to greater endeavors in life as well.”

Mitchell, a 25-year White Hall graduate herself, reflected on her path back to education and the inspiration that came long before she even realized it.

“It’s just as I started this path, my mom, who is no longer with us, she went back to school when I was 11, 12 years old,” Mitchell described. “I remember going in the summer and being with her in school. Like her teacher would let us come and be with them. Like I learned to swim because of her class that she did at UAPB, but she was never able to pass her Praxis.”

Before she knew it, Mitchell realized she was continuing her mother’s path.

“Always said that she was crazy, wanting to be a teacher, wanting to go back into the classroom and and being or going into the classroom and being with kids. But now I see why,” she said. “I see why she always wanted to do that. I see why she wanted to change the world through kids. And that, that means a lot. That means a lot to me.”

Despite her success, the path wasn’t without doubt.

“I have a lot of self-doubt, and I never thought that I was capable, mentally ready, but I had a huge, obviously, a huge support system,” she said.

Mitchell gave special credit to a core group who helped her stay focused, even when she had to say no to social invitations.

“Those that was in that corner there. We’d text just about every day, and they would try, you know, hey, let’s go do, and I’m like, I can’t, I’ve got to study,” she said. “But they were always there. They were still there with me. I would just thank you. Thank you all, all of them.”

Mitchell’s journey at White Hall High School began in a classroom, helping students in a computer lab.

“When I first started, I was in a classroom. I was a facilitator, a computer lab. So I did the kids who did Virtual Arkansas. They would come into my classroom, and I would just help make sure that they’d stayed on task and stayed on track and things like that. I did that for three years,” she explained.

She later moved to the front office.

“I applied for the front office secretary. I just wanted to change the culture of the front office, because I know the people, when they come in, that is the first thing that they see, is the person at the front office,” Mitchell said. “And I just wanted to be that smile that they would see.”

Now that her degree is complete, she hopes to move into the classroom— and the gym.

“I applied for the assistant basket girls basketball coach and teaching health and PE, so after the interview, hopefully I’ll be able to tell you, I will be able to tell you that I am the new assistant girls basketball coach,” she said.

While she’s likely to secure the job, the true goal once she receives it is to leave a legacy of compassion.

“When people see or hear my name, that it is one of love, it is one of enduring. It is one of compassion,” she said. “I want people to feel better when they leave me.”

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