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“Don’t let your gifts and talents take you where your character can’t keep you!”

My name is Marcia Lee Blizzard. I attended Wagener Elementary School, A.L. Corbett Middle School, and then graduated from Wagener-Salley High School in 1979. My teaching career began at Busbee Elementary when I completed the school year as a substitute for a fourth grade teacher. My first official teaching job was in 1985 as an ART teacher at Lower Richland High School. I then transferred to Ridge Spring-Monetta Elementary where I taught ART [K-8th] during the year and Reading and Math to 8th-12th grade Migrant Students during the summer.

My coaching career began in 1988-89 when I returned to Busbee Elementary/Wagener-Salley High School to teach elementary and high school ART. Eager to help encourage and mentor teenage girls, I agreed to become the cheerleader sponsor and gladly accepted the role as assistant softball coach. After assisting the softball team for one year, I became the Head Softball Coach. The W-S Softball Team’s passion for softball, spirit to excel, coachable attitude, and heart to win carried them to the play-offs each of the 13 years I was part of the team. The Lady War Eagles were Region Champions for 6 years, Lower State Champions in 1997 and 1998, and were State Champions in 1991, 1992, and 1993. In addition to TEAM victories, my players received numerous individual awards, several attended college on athletic scholarships, one was named “Rookie of the Year” her first year playing college softball, and some have become teachers/coaches [Wagener-Salley High Coaches].

Within my 13 years of coaching, I also coached junior varsity basketball and varsity volleyball. “When your heart is for the players and not the sport, it’s easy to transition from one season to another – filing in until the right coach comes along!” “The instruction you follow will determine the future you create. What you are… you reproduce!”

“Just as seasons change in sports and throughout the year, seasons in our life also abruptly begin and end. Because I love children, I have also spent every summer since I began teaching in a classroom somewhere: Migrant School at RS-M [over 10 years], acGATEWAY Visual ARTS Director [over 10 years], and now in classroom overseas.

In 2003, my passion to see teenagers develop character, establish goals, find their purpose, and succeed in life moved me from the softball field to the mission field. My first overseas trip was to Bolivia in 2005. Since then, I have traveled internationally each year [now 15 years - Covid didn't allow us to go summer of 2020] with JSMI [GlobalVentures.TV] to teach in the schools and minister in Africa, Albania, Cambodia, Canada, China, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Panama, Romania, Thailand [8 times], and Peru [10 times]. It is an honor to go on Mission Trips. Just like in our classrooms, “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

“Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-scattered night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow – and shine like stars forever.”

“We are all meant to shine. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” God surrounds us with people, not to limit our life, but to fill it with meaning. If we allow God to use us… we can be the STAR that God uses to light the world!”

One of the most important aspects of teaching and coaching is building relationships. Coaching/Teaching/Ministry – it’s all the same! You’re changing lives and improving yours… endeavoring to “Practice what you Preach!”