At William & Mary, Ayanna Jones '05 was a record-setting thrower on the women's track and field team. It was in that environment, thanks to legendary head coach Dan Stimson, that Jones realized she wanted to be an educator.

After graduation, she earned her M.T. in Secondary English Education from VCU in 2007. That same year, she was hired as an English teacher and track coach at Manchester High in Chesterfield.
Six years later, Jones became the head of the English Department at Huguenot High in Richmond. She not only continued coaching, she received her M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision from Liberty University.

In 2016, Jones was named assistant principal at Addison Middle in Roanoke. While she was there, she added a Certificate in Gifted Education from Liberty to her resume.
Jones craved a challenge, and she found one in 2018 when she was hired as academic supervisor at Rowad AlKhaleej International Schools. Where is that, you ask? Dammam, Saudi Arabia — nearly 7,000 miles as the crow flies from her hometown of Richmond.

Sure, her family and friends were surprised and even a little concerned. But in her third year on the job, Jones loves her work.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When was it you decided to be an educator?
I was in my senior year at William & Mary. Juice (Stimson) was an amazing coach and recommended that I coach track and field after college. So I coached at VCU for two years while completing my master's degree. The rest is history, as they would say. I became a full-time teacher and coached middle and high school students. It was the best of both worlds.

How did your job in Saudi Arabia come about?
My mentor, Ms. Lafondra Mathis, was working in Dubai, so I wanted to venture out and see how it would be working in the Middle East. After the interview, I decided to give Saudi Arabia a chance. It was a good choice, and I've been here enjoying every moment since I came.

How did your family and friends react to your decision?
What we see in the news about Saudi is never positive, so most of my family and friends were concerned about how safe it would be. After a few months, they came around to the idea of me being here since I sent pictures home and contacted everyone on a regular basis. Now, my family and friends want to visit since Saudi now offers tourists visas. Saudi has been a closed country for so long that there are several misconceptions about the culture and region.

What is it like there?
It is a different culture, but the people are so welcoming. My team consist of expats and Saudis. The principal and a great deal of the staff at the school in Dammam is like family to me. We eat out a lot here and the malls are always the place to go on a Thursday. I'm on the coast, so there are places to water ski and enjoy the water/beach. There is also a cultural center here called Ithra that has several events. The only big difference is that it's illegal to have pork or alcohol. If you want those items, then you have to take a 45-minute drive to Bahrain.

How you stand 115 degrees in July?
The summer heat is brutal! We usually stay indoors during the day and go out at night. The good thing about the summer is that you get the opportunity to do several indoor activities. For example, there is an indoor playground or amusement park in almost every mall. I rode a rollercoaster in the mall for the first time while living here.

Do most Saudis speak English?
All the students speak fluent English and most of their parents do as well. I know basic Arabic, but since most people speak English, I've been slow learning Arabic. It's my third school year here and I still only know the basic phrases in Arabic.

You serve as academic advisor for eight international school branches and a national school. How challenging is your job?
It's a big challenge. I have to keep track of the academic quality for all of the schools and contact the leadership at every school to follow up and give them my report every two weeks. I also travel to the schools to meet with the leadership and staff. We have schools in Dammam, Khobar, Jeddah, and Riyadh.

We are currently working towards company accreditation through Cognia, so that is a process all in itself. I am currently collecting evidence for all the standards to present to the review team, who will decide if we can be an accredited company. With the company accreditation, all of the schools will become accredited. This is a great deal, since we only have one school accredited right now.

How has the COVID outbreak affected your job?
The pandemic has actually made monitoring the teachers and their instructional strategies easier. We use Teams, so the lessons are recorded. That allows me to watch lessons after the normal workday. Instead of traveling to each school every month, I can have virtual visits. Moreover, Saudi has very strict standards about health and safety. I actually feel safer traveling during the pandemic. The hardest part is not being able to gather. I miss the social aspect of our team getting together in person.

Earlier, you referred to Lafondra Mathis as your mentor. How has she shaped your career as an educator?
Ms. Mathis was an assistant principal at Huguenot High when I was a head of the department there. I told her that I wanted to be an administrator, and she mentored me through my graduate program at Liberty University. She showed me how to complete bell schedules, master schedules, parent newsletters, be a testing coordinator, and almost every other tasks I needed to be an assistant principal. She was usually the last person in the building on a daily basis, so I learned to never require what I was not willing to give. Most importantly, she told me to always listen to every voice in the room, even the complainer.

You had quite the career as a thrower at William & Mary. What are your top memories?
I would have to say breaking the school record in the shot put (48 feet, 6 inches) at CNU was one of my best memories. It was a track meet at CNU and the weather was horrible. The thing about track at William & Mary is that we're one big family, so we laugh and joke until it's time to compete. I had just finished warming up and having a good laugh with my teammates when I broke a personal record. Juice was excited and told me to keep pushing, so that's exactly what I did for the next throw. And I broke the school record on the next throw. If it wasn't for Juice, I would have been content with the PR. He always had a way to encourage his athletes to be better and to never give up.