A Life Shaped by Learning, a Career Defined by Love

Meet Memorial High School’s Mrs. Suzette Holiday, who teaches OSHA, Global and Virtual Business, Principles of Education, and Securities in Investment. Students unanimously agree that Ms. Holiday is intelligent and inspiring. It all started in Austin, Texas where Ms. Holiday grew up. As a child, she attended Pompham Elementary and recalls loving the outdoors, water, daddy longlegs, and her favorite teacher Mrs. Green. Mrs. Holiday explained, “She was super professional, really funny… I remember having a good time.” When I probed a bit more, it was clear that Mrs. Green’s presence powerfully gave Mrs. Holiday her first taste of a great education.

Mrs. Holiday is often credited by students at Memorial as their role model. Mrs. Holiday said her greatest role model was her mother. “Mom was compassionate, caring, firm, supportive… She was fearless,” Mrs. Holiday said. Her mom emphasized education and faith: “The teacher I am is because of things she did.”

Originally, Mrs. Holiday did not plan to enter education. While attending Texas A&M, she majored in psychology and prepped for law school. While Mrs. Green taught her about impact, it was an A&M professor with mismatched loafers and a heavy Boston accent that taught her about the weight a teacher carries: “No matter how you look, how you smell, you still have a job to do. And it’s more than just teaching, you have somebody’s life in your hands.”

She eventually made it to law school and is not ashamed to say she took the Bar six times. It wasn't until she started tutoring law students that she really began to understand the law. It became clear that she learned by teaching. “If I can explain it to you, then I’ve truly learned it.” While she was clearly pivoting to teaching, it wasn’t until she was tutoring a young girl that the calling was solidified. “You need to be a teacher,” the girl said. “I wish you could be my teacher.” Mrs. Holiday began working in the mortgage industry as a trainer and discovered her talent for teaching adults too: “People who hated me at first ended up saying, ‘I love you.’”

Mrs. Holiday went on to teach at a career college with adults, veterans, and dropouts. “It was one of the most awesome experiences I’ve ever had.” The principal there would say, “I want to catch them before they fall through the cracks.” That stuck with Mrs. Holiday.

Today, her teaching philosophy is love + accountability: “My teaching style always starts with love: compassion, patience, respect, responsibility, accountability.” Her students will say she is firm but fair, and through it all, she is fun! She is constantly evolving and understands you can't remain the same and be good at education. She believes knowledge is true power: “It’s not money that gives you power—it’s knowledge. And knowledge is free.”

Mrs. Holiday was my Business Law teacher and made every day amazing. Her motivational quotes and stories made a difference in my life and others. Her future goal is to become a campus principal and support teachers and students alike. Whatever her future holds, I know she’ll bring her inspiration to it.