Originally published in the Lakeland Magazine, Summer 2006

Chambers Learns to Teach from a Pro

Lesley Verplanck Chambers first knew she wanted to be in Hazel Haley's class while she was still in elementary school. Her sister, who is six years older than Lesley, gave a pool party for Haley, and after that, Lesley hoped for the opportunity to have her as a teacher. In 1986, she got the chance.
Chambers, 36, is among the countless students with fond memories of Miss Haley's class. "She encourages you to be a thinker and to stand on your own two feet and to be proud of who you are and be the best that you can be," she says, paging through the journals she wrote for the class, which she still treasures two decades later.
"I was able to work through a lot of things that I was thinking about wanting to do after high school through my journals," Chambers says. Haley's comments and encouragement in those journals gave Chambers the confidence to pursue a career in education.
After graduating from LHS, Chambers attended the University of Florida and studied music education and performance. "My mother's an educator. And music was something that I did well, fortunately, so I was able to put those two together."
She taught at Southwest Middle School for two years before going back to school for her master's degree. For the last six years, she has been working as a guidance counselor, first at Lakeland High and more recently at the Harrison Center for the Arts. During those six years, she was able to work side by side with Haley.
"She calls me her 'bud'," Chambers says, attributing her own ability to relate to her students directly to Haley's influence. "Being able to work with her every day for the past six years has been reinforcement and encouragement. She listens, and that's probably the biggest thing. She makes herself available."
Chambers admires how active Haley is in her personal life. "She's out all the time. She has tickets to every performing arts series I know - the Lakeland Center, the Polk Theater, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Everything. She's just always going and keeps her mind very active. She reads a lot, does crossword puzzles, keeps up with the national and international news. She goes more than any of us. We can't keep up with her."
One of Chambers' favorite memories of Haley doesn't involve school. While Chambers was still married to her ex-husband, the two were attending church and became involved in a discipleship program in which the attendees studied the Bible for several weeks. "We're sitting in this class of about 15 people, and there's Miss Haley," Chambers says.
The class ran three hours long, and after four or five weeks, Chambers and her ex agreed to stop going. Miss Haley called them on it.
"I get this call at my house, and I answer it, and she goes, 'This is God calling. Why haven't you been at your disciple class?'" It wasn't until much later that Lesley found out her mysterious caller had been Miss Haley.
"I feel that I have been so fortunate that I have had the opportunity to know her," Chambers says, "not only in the relationship of a student/teacher, and having that impact, but also as an adult. I'm excited for her to have the opportunity to retire, but I will certainly miss not being able to see her every day, pulling in with Earl (her Mercury Grand Marquis)."