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Teacher glad to be home, impacting students through theater
HUNTINGTON -- There may not be a more peppy person in Huntington than Helen Freeman. She's lively, dramatic and easy to connect with.
Most would say it's because of her theater and drama background. She said it's more about her passion for theater and drama.
These days, the Huntington native and co-founder of Huntington Outdoor Theatre, teaches drama and speech and debate at Huntington High School. In her fourth year, she has grown the participation to 180 kids. She gives all the credit to God, who made her the way she is.
"The only reason I started teaching is I felt like it was a calling from God," Freeman said, adding that she's always had a lot of love to give. "If (students) have at least one person who believes in them, they can do it all. This is my mission field, and I'm living it with my life rather than my words."
Freeman grew up in Huntington, the daughter of Cam Hagge, who opened Cam's Ham on 1st Street and 8th Avenue. She attended Cammack Junior High School and graduated from a Christian High School that has since shut down.
She went to a Christian college to pursue theater and speech but didn't like the atmosphere. She returned home to attend Marshall University, earning a speech pathology degree, along with a master's in communication and theater. Freeman said she wanted to teach, but there were no openings in Cabell County. So she took a speech pathologist job in Kanawha County, traveling from Huntington for four years.
"I realized I was in the wrong field," Freeman said. "But I couldn't get a job as a communications/theater teacher."
It was in that job, though, that she became involved with Kanawha Players as a director. She returned to the area and got her first teaching job in Wayne County. She also got involved with the former Huntington Arts Guild.
But Freeman's travels were far from over. She was recruited to a middle school in Morehead, Ky., leading the speech team to state titles in three of her four years. However, she remained a Huntington resident because of theater connections and family.
She married Steve Freeman, who also teaches at Huntington High School. She said her mother-in-law lived across the street and wanted her two sons to grow up around her.
"My mother-in-law was so special," she said. "She taught me so much about being a mom."
Freeman then took a job at Capital High School in Charleston. She spent 12 years driving two hours a day, leading Capitol to become one of the top 10 programs in the nation. It was during this time that she, her husband and Patti Shaver started the Huntington Outdoor Theatre, which continues to draw huge crowds for its July shows at the Ritter Park Amphitheater.
Finally, Freeman said her big break came and was able to get a job at Huntington High School. She relishes in being back home and seeing her students excel on stage and in the classroom.
She wants to teach until she's 55. She received a family inheritance that is tied up in the market and in real estate that she is waiting to become more profitable. When it does, Freeman said she's off to New York to try and make it on the big stage.
"I want to try to be a professional director beyond here," she said. "Once I retire, that's what I'm going to do."
Whether she becomes rich and famous, Freeman knows that she has already attained both, in different ways, here in Huntington.
She's seen her students become debate champions, started a theater group and raised two sons who also value education. Her oldest, Steven Michael Freeman, is a social studies teacher at Beverly Hills Middle School, while Zachary Freeman is at Marshall working on a teaching degree for science.
It's been a long and difficult road, but Freeman is happy doing what she loves to do. She said that's what has made it all worth it.
Helen Freeman
FAMILY: Both Helen Freeman and her husband, Steve, are teachers at Huntington High. The couple has two sons, one of which is a teacher at Beverly Hills Middle, and another at Marshall who wants to be a science teacher. Freeman is the daughter of Cam Hagge, the founder of Cam's Ham, the longtime Huntington restaurant.
HOBBIES: Freeman likes to take walks, cook and bake.
DREAM: Her ultimate dream is to go to New York and try to make it as a professional director.
HOT: She, her husband, and Patti Shaver, started Huntington Outdoor Theatre. In its 17th season, it regularly draws thousands to its shows at the Ritter Park Amphitheater.
