Fatal Accident in Zephyrhills Claims Life Of A Grade School Teacher
Michael Babboni
Car Accidents
On Monday July 18,2016, an accident in Zephyrhills claimed the life of a beloved grade school teacher. Tiffanie Michelle Hughes, 33, of Winter Haven, was driving her 2016 Toyota 4Runner sport-utility vehicle (SUV) west along State Road 54 near Loury Drive on Monday afternoon when her vehicle collided with a 2009 Mazda CX-9 SUV driver by Koosh Raahul Patel, 17, of Wesley Chapel. The collision claimed Hughes life and injured her two passengers.Initially, the Florida Highway Patrol believed that Hughes’ SUV drifted over the center line into eastbound traffic, believing this lead the SUV to collide head on with Patel’s vehicle.
However after further investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol, reporting officers changed the details of the accident. On Wednesday, patrol officers found that it was actually Patel’s vehicle that crossed the dividing center line causing the head on collision. Though, further details of the crash are still currently under investigation.
Hughes was driving her 11-year old son, Lane Hughes, and his friend at the time of the accident. Though the police reported the passengers were not immediately taken to the hospital following the crash, it was later reported her son suffered severe injuries, while his friend suffered minor injuries. It was unclear where the three were traveling.
Hughes was a passionate and respected teacher working at Woodland Elementary School. Her co-worker, Christina Hellwig, a fourth grade teacher at the school, stated about Hughes: “Teaching was her life. Not everybody can be a teacher. She was born to do it, she was born to make a difference.”
The two vehicle collision occurred just four weeks before Hughes was to return to Woodland Elementary for her second year as a teacher. After spending time as a stay at home mother, Hughes decided to pursue her passion of teaching once her children were old enough for her to return to work. Hughes began her teaching career in 2015 as a first grade teacher at Woodland Elementary School after graduating in 2014 from Saint Leo University with a teaching degree.
Hughes had planned to return to Saint Leo University in the Fall to pursue a Master’s Degree in elementary education. “But in her first year,” Hellwig said, “She wanted to focus on her classroom and her students. That’s what she did.”
Another co-worker, and first grade teacher, Christel Phelps, served as Hughes’ professional mentor. Phelps stated they had big plans for the school year and were very excited to work together to introduce new fresh, new ideas to the classroom. Phelps said Hughes had a professionalism “beyond that of a first-year teacher.”
Phelps went on to state that “throughout the year, Tiffanie become a real part of the Woodland family, especially to our first grade team. It wasn’t long before I considered her a friend as well as a co-worker. She was a beautiful person inside and out.”
Another co-worker, Antonia Astone, taught one room down from Hughes. Astone, who has 20 years of teaching experience, said she loved the way Hughes decorated her classroom with art from her favorite book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle and that she admired creativity she brought to teaching. “Tiffanie is certainly one of the best among us,” Astone stated going on to explain she was a sweet and good natured teacher her students loved.
Hughes will be missed by both her coworkers and students at Woodland elementary. Hellwig said she “made a big splash at the school” in her first year stating “Everything Woodland stands for, that’s Tiffanie. She was her classroom.”
Hughes is survived by her husband, Dallas, a Polk County Deputy, and their two sons, Lane and Gunner.