Daughter joins dad in education field as new teacher at A.C. Flora High

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — For Midlands teacher Abigail Oddo, Monday will mark her first day in the classroom. But it seems she’s not too worried because her dad, Daniel, has worked in education for over 32 years — and can share plenty of good advice.

But before classes begin, they’re like any other father daughter duo. “I think I enjoy watching her mother and her binge watch a little bit of tv together, I always do enjoy that,” says Daniel. “We’ve been binging ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty,’ that’s been our show,” says Abigail. “It’s just one of those shows that really draws you in — you can’t turn it off,” jokes Daniel.

Except now they’ll both be working within the same school district — Richland One.

Daniel says has been in education for over 32 years —  now working in human resources.

“It still doesn’t seem that long ago when I started. But it’s the connection and relationship with the students (that matters),” he says.

And now, Abigail is ready for day one of her new beginning — teaching U.S. History and Modern World at A.C Flora High School.

“Definitely, he’s been an inspiration growing up and seeing him in the classroom and just hearing stories about the relationships he’s had with his students,” she says.

And it’s not just her dad who found his career within school walls, Abigail’s grandmother Carolyn and her great-grandmother were teachers as well.

“I actually worked with her grandmother, and she’s not with us anymore, but I know she would be immensely proud of Abigail right now. And she was a fabulous teacher herself, and you have a little bit of a legacy there,” says Daniel, who believes Abigail can carry the family legacy of teachers and make a huge difference in the lives of her students.

“There’s a lot of times where you just don’t know the impact that you have. And then years later you find out. And so I hope she’ll have the same opportunity to have gained from those experiences because it’s not always obvious the impacts that you have,” says Daniel.

“At the end of the day they aren’t going to remember everything you teach them, but they are going to remember how you made them feel. And so for me that’s very important to make sure they know this is a safe place and it’s ok to ask questions, and it’s ok to make mistakes and it’s ok to not know the answer,” says Abigail.