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If you look around at any NS game, match, or meet, chances are you’ll see Cheryl Hadley cheering from the sidelines. If she isn’t there, she’ll be sure to watch it and talk to the athletes about it the next day. That’s because Hadley really and truly cares about the students, coaches, and programs at NS.
Cheryl Hadley is the athletic director and a math teacher right now in her 30th year teaching. Throughout those years she’s enjoyed teaching, coaching, and being super involved in many other things. She likes to watch as the students and athletes make progress in their lives.
“I like to see kids learning things,” Cheryl Hadley said. “When they catch on, when it comes to them, when they figure it out, and they’re excited because they learned.”
Cheryl Hadley wants to be the kind of teacher that can help students do those things. Growing up, she had teachers that did the same for her. They became examples and guided her to wanting to be a teacher.
“I had a really good experience when I was in education myself,” Cheryl Hadley said. “I had teachers that were a good influence and made an impact on my life. They’re examples for me.”
Her teachers helped Cheryl Hadley to have a good high school experience. Her graduating class in the small town of Coalville where she grew up had only 43 people, 30 boys and 13 girls.
Cheryl Hadley grew up in Coalville with her parents and brothers. A lot of her family still lives there, and she visits them often. Her childhood helped shape her into the person she is today.
“I have four brothers,” Cheryl Hadley said. “My parents owned a motel, a little motel that I grew up working at. We had a farm, so I grew up working on the farm doing that stuff.”
Having those jobs, among others, taught Cheryl Hadley the value of hard work and responsibility. But the most important lesson she learned was how to work with her family and still have a good time.
“We work together but we enjoy that time together,” Cheryl Hadley said. “When we’re branding calves or bringing cows down the mountain, we make it an enjoyable family time. There’s work to be done but we work together and do it together and we enjoy doing it.”
Now with her own family, Hadley still applies that lesson. After going to Snow and Weber, she got married. Now she and her husband, who teaches at the institute at Snow after having taught seminary at NS for several years, have four boys. Austin is the oldest and works at NS with his wife. Next is Jake who lives in Bountiful with his wife. He’s going to Weber State and she’s working. Then Tyler is at Snow College, and Carson is in Canada on a mission. They all learned from and love Hadley very much.
“She’s a very hard worker,” said son and teacher Austin Hadley. “She’s determined and determined to do things the right way.”
For the first time, Cheryl Hadley and her husband have no kids at home. Other than Carson, they’re all still close to home. She even works with one of them. Despite this, it’s still very different.
“My grocery bill is a lot less, I’m not spending nearly as much on food and milk,” Hadley said. “It’s pretty quiet but they’re still around quite a bit except for Carson. It’s just different in that way. I don’t have to do nearly as much laundry though.”
Family is extremely important to Cheryl Hadley. When she’s not at school she enjoys spending time with them. They hunt, golf, watch sports, and play corn hole on Sunday nights. It’s always been this way, even when her kids were younger.
“When she coached girls basketball, she’d take us on bus trips with her and that was pretty memorable,” Austin Hadley said. “I remember going to Lehi and it went into three or four overtimes and getting stuck in snowstorms on the way to basketball games.”
Involving her family in what she does, even if it’s just the day to day, is needed because of her busy lifestyle. Between teaching and being the athletic director, Hadley seems to always be moving.
“She just goes all the time. She gets up really early and works very late,” Austin Hadley said. “The other thing that really helps is my dad is willing to do a lot of things around the house. I think having my dad support her in doing the things she loves, while he still does things he loves, is really good.”
Balancing her two jobs among everything else in her life can be difficult and stressful at times. Hadley may struggle but she tries her best and does all she can to make it work.
“Sometimes I have to leave my class for a little bit and I try to not do that but with the timing that’s just what has to happen,” Hadley said. “Once I’m done with my two classes the rest of the day is focused on Athletics. A lot of my prep is early morning or late night because of that. It is hard to balance the two.”
Teacher Tyler Bailey understands how hard it is working as a teacher and helping with athletics as well. Not only does he work with Hadley every day, but she also taught him when he was a student at NS.
“She’s always been the same whether as a teacher or a coworker,” said Bailey. “She is very dependable, helpful, and willing to help do anything. She loves the school, and she loves the students. She’s really good at what she does.”
Because they work together, Hadley and Bailey spend a lot of time together including going to games at other schools. Bailey is often surprised when they meet NS alumni who still remember Hadley.
“It always amazes me how wherever we go, an alumni from NS, someone she’s coached or taught, will come up to her and they’ll talk,” Bailey said. “She’ll ask about their families or something because she’s still really interested in their lives even though they graduated ten plus years ago. She still cares, that’s the kind of person she is.”
One such student is Sophie Peterson who graduated last year. Peterson loved having the chance to have Hadley as a teacher.
“I really admire Cheryl for her hard work and understanding for her students,” Peterson said. “I’m really grateful that I got the opportunity to learn from Cheryl and challenge myself by taking college Algebra. There were definitely many times I thought I would fail a test or not understand the material but Cheryl made sure to instill confidence and knowledge so I knew I would never do that badly on a test.”
Not only did Hadley help Peterson academically, but with sports as well. Hadley encouraged Peterson to join a women’s golf league which she is still a part of today. Hadley helped her find a love for and improve in golf.
“During golf last year at a tournament, I was stressed and not doing so good,” Peterson said. “But Cheryl was there, and she gave me encouragement and was very kind to me during that very rough tournament. She has always pushed me to improve but also to not be so hard on myself. I can confidently say that Cheryl is an amazing person, teacher and role model. She has made a positive impact on my life and I’m sure she has for many others as well.”
Family, school, sports, and religion are very important to Hadley. She cares deeply about each of these things and wants to leave a positive impact on other peoples, especially students, lives.
“You hope when you’re all done that you’ve made some impact on someone’s life along the way for the positive,” said Hadley. “Not necessarily the content you teach, but just because of the experience they’ve had in the classroom or wherever.”
