Mrs. Hackett grew up in Upstate New York. During high school, she skipped a year and served as a Rotary International Exchange Student to Brazil. She was bitten by the travel bug, visiting Argentina and Paraguay during her stay in South America.  Of course, living so close, she has been to Canada with her family several times. While attending Maritime College in the Bronx she sailed on the school's ship (The Empire State) to England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the Canary Islands, and Puerto Rico. During her Master's program, Mrs. Hackett traveled to Mexico and Russia, rounding out her international travels.

She married her college sweetheart, Jon, and over the past 34 years they have lived in New York, DC, Virginia, Florida, California, Arizona, and now call North Carolina home. They have a little hobby farm with horses, pigs, chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks, a rooster, 2 cats, and 4 dogs. 

This is Mrs. Hackett's 25th year of teaching.