Teacher Spotlight: Norma Fincher

By Senior Evie Fordham

Music teacher Norma Fincher has instructed at Wake Christian Academy for twenty-six years. She received her bachelor’s degree in Religion and Biblical Education from Luther Rice College and Seminary in Georgia. Currently, she is the general music teacher for grades K-5 and the strings orchestra director for grades 4-12. She revealed that her interest in teaching was sparked at a young age.

“I have four younger sisters and feel like I have been teaching all my life,” Ms. Fincher recounted, “It’s what God made natural for me.”

Ms. Fincher finds the most rewarding part of her occupation to be “when a student comes back later and continues the relationship we have started, or when a student who has been in my classes uses their musical talent for the Lord, or when a parent writes and thanks me for the difference I have made in their child’s life.”

She also has a “policy to be transparent” with her students.

“My desire has been for them to see how things should be done by one who loves the Lord — whether they are pleasant or unpleasant experiences,” she said. Ms. Fincher has two “favorite quotes” she especially likes to share with her students: “God’s ways are always best, and He loves me no matter what happens in my life” and “It doesn’t matter so much what happens to you; it’s how you react to what happens that makes the difference.”

But Ms. Fincher hasn’t just preached to her students without letting them see the trials she has gone through in her life.

“I have been suffering from hand problems for the past few years which has taken me out of the music ministry,” she disclosed, “So God has allowed me to change direction in my focus. Travel, art and church history, collecting, photography, and books are my interests.”

Most of all, Ms. Fincher loves that her students gain invaluable music skills under her tutelage and can continue to use their abilities to serve the Lord.

She said, “For my instrumental students, they can play a violin, viola, cello, bass, or the piano, and that is a rare talent these days! The general music students… are equipped to be involved in any musical program at school, church or the community. Music is truly a God-given gift in an international language.”