Iantha Ussin

Iantha Ussin is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana who planted her feet in Augusta in 2003.  After completing her undergraduate study of Journalism and Family and Child Studies at Louisiana Tech University in 2002, and having no desire to work in the media, she followed her heart, and she believes, the call of God, to serve as an abstinence educator and facilitator with Heritage Community Services.  For 3 years, Iantha taught middle and high school students in Richmond, Edgefield, and Saluda counties, the physical AND emotional, short and
long-term effects of sex outside of a marriage commitment.  Through this job, she became a motivational speaker and traveled (and still travels) the southern states teaching young women what it means to wait.

When Heritage’s federally funded research program reached its end, Iantha had fallen in love with teaching.  She loved the students and how they clung to her every word, and she loved the classroom and how
she could change lives through the power of presentation.  She pursued a middle school teaching position with Richmond County Board of Education and was hired as an 8th grade English/Lang. Arts teacher in
2006. She taught 8th grade ELA for 3 years at Tubman Middle School and is currently teaching 7th grade ELA at A. R. Johnson Health Science  & Engineering Magnet School.

When Iantha is not teaching, preparing to teach, or assessing her students’ understanding of what she taught, she can be found spending time with her church family, getting a workout at the Family Y, or
putting the finishing touches on the plans for her dance school that is set to open for classes in Fall 2010, Praise Movement School of Dance, a Christian dance school committed to teaching girls, ages 8-15, to put
the word of God in motion.

Iantha will complete her coursework for a Master’s of Arts in Teaching degree (MAT) in December.