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Trish Eastland
Assistant Principal/
Academic Counselor
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Personal Profile
I have been at ETCA for a long time, first as a mother (19 years), then as PTF president (3 years), then as a cheerleader sponsor (10 years), then as a Spanish teacher (9 years), now as a counselor (1 year). My daughter Kristen began begging to come to Miss Gay’s 3 yr. old class in 1987. About a year later, my husband John was asked to be on the board of directors. Then, my son Spencer began his ETCA experience in the 2 yr. old class. Now, I am happy to say that both of our children have graduated from ETCA and are now at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Mrs. Bellar and I are strongly urging Kristen to return to Tyler and follow in my footsteps as the secondary Spanish/Family Consumer Science teacher.
I was born in Murray, Kentucky and lived in West Monroe, Louisiana until my sophomore year in high school. It was then that my parents moved us all to Trinidad, West Indies, so that my dad could pursue his great love—teaching the gospel of Christ as a missionary. I went to school there until my senior year when I returned to the states to finish high school in Memphis, Tennessee at Harding Academy.
Professional Profile
I attended college through my junior year at Harding College (now Harding University) where I met and married my husband in 1979. In August of 1981, I received my Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas at Tyler.
I did not start out to be a teacher. In fact, I have to say that it wasn’t even a remote consideration. So, how did I end up here teaching Spanish? Well, John and I love Mexico and we love the people there. We would go there every chance we got. We learned to dive, and we even bought a lot and built a house there. Therefore, I decided that I should learn the Spanish. A friend and I enrolled in some classes at TJC and I fell in love with the language. It became my hobby, my passion.
In 1997, I was up at school (my home away from home even then) and noticed that the Spanish II class was without a Spanish teacher. Mr. Witt (the Spanish teacher) was also the Superintendent of the school. Because of this, he was often absent, leaving this class without a teacher. I asked if I could help out and teach them for the rest of the year. Well, 9 years later, I am still teaching Spanish here at ETCA.
Spanish is still my passion, but last year, I also became the Academic Counselor for ETCA. This has been a huge responsibility, but I have learned a great deal and have thoroughly enjoyed the interaction that I have with the students here. I love it when they come into my office and just chat about their day or their lives. They are such a blessing to my life and I pray that I can be a blessing to theirs as well.
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