ABIGAIL HILSON A PASSION FOR NOUNS, VERBS, AND TEACHING

Affectionately known as a “grammar nerd,” Abigail Hilson is one of the main reasons class after class of students graduated from The Meadows School with the writing fundamentals that would launch them into their college careers.

For much of its history, Mrs. Hilson was a sixth- and seventh-grade English teacher at The Meadows, retiring in 2022 after 26 years with the school. She was an extra set of eyes for the original Scholar Lane and even proofread administrative emails sent out by the school.

Mrs. Hilson’s students knew better than to turn in sloppy writing errors, as she drilled the basics of sentence diagramming and punctuation purposes day in and day out.

“Kids who don’t know their fundamental grammar can’t be a good writer one day,” Mrs. Hilson said. “I didn’t shortcut things because I wanted them to learn. A strong English foundation is something you need anywhere you go in life.”

But she didn’t teach just because she had a passion for nouns and verbs. Mrs. Hilson also loved the hundreds of children who came through her classroom over the years. Because she often put in 12- or 13-hour days at The Meadows School, it wasn’t unusual to find a student in her classroom beyond the bell. Parents who needed to work early or late knew that their children would be welcomed in Mrs. Hilson’s room.

“I loved the kids,” she said. “The feeling of family at The Meadows was pretty amazing. They’ve always supported one another.”

That is, after all, why Mrs. Hilson joined The Meadows staff. She was attracted by the family atmosphere, the parental involvement, and the small class sizes.

These days, Mrs. Hilson spends time at her second home in Arizona, where she walks her dogs and makes them homemade dog treats. She exercises regularly, travels to visit family in California, puts together puzzles, and, of course, always has a book to read.

“I’m enjoying the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it,” she said.

Even in retirement, Mrs. Hilson hasn’t stopped sharing her grammar and literacy knowledge. She is writing a curriculum based on grammar basics and biographies of classic authors, in addition to the book she wrote years ago about diagramming sentences. For this career schoolteacher, passing on the wisdom she has accrued over the years is simply a natural progression.

“I loved teaching English and the fact that I could get kids to realize the importance of things that they might have considered mundane at first,” she said.

From everyone at The Meadows, thank you Mrs. Hilson. We wish you the best in your retirement!