Known as a hard-worker, motivator and counselor, Marvel W. Hughes has been chosen by the students of Southern University to be the “DIGEST Faculty Member of the Week.”
When she attended Southern, during her freshman year she had a very good counselor Jean Jones. Ironically, she took her place after she passed and currently works in her office.
“I just try to give back to my students what I received at Southern,” Hughes said. The Baton Rouge native began working for Southern University in 1981 in the reading department.
In 1987 she began teaching freshman seminar, a course designed to help freshmen make the transition from high school to college.
“A lot of our students have a lot of issues and we try to be there for them. Not just know them as a number but, personally. Teaching is a calling and I love what I do,” Hughes said.
Her motto for her students is “if its to be, its up to me, no excuses.”
“I believe that Ms. Hughes should be faculty member of the week because she takes time out of her busy schedule to get to know each and every one of her students.
Ms Hughes teaches her students how to enter the adult world.
She teaches her students that confidence and self-esteem are needed to be successful in every aspect of life, ” said Christina Rodgers, a freshman majoring in secondary math education from Westwego.
On Mondays at noon, Hughes, along with others, go to the Baptist Student Union and pray for the university.
Hughes works to help students succeed while in college and after graduation.
“I try to instill in my students to strive for excellence and remember their reason for being at school. Students are unique, with their own strengths and weaknesses. As teachers we must seek to identify these in each of our students and help them become the person God intended them to be.”
