Paula Starling

Born in North Dakota, Paula has spent most of her life in Wilmington, North Carolina. She attended John T. Hoggard High School before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her North Carolina K–6 Teaching License from UNCW. From an early age, Paula knew she wanted to dedicate her life to serving either senior adults or children.

She began her career with New Hanover County's Home Delivered Meals program, where she spent ten years serving senior citizens and eventually became the coordinator of the Meals on Wheels program. After a year in New Hanover County Schools, she accepted a kindergarten teaching position at Myrtle Grove Christian School. Over the past 20 years, Paula has taught Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade, as well as serving for five years as the school librarian.

Paula has received training in the Charlotte Mason, Classical, and Experiential approaches to education. During her time at Myrtle Grove, she was honored with the 2022 Barbara Nail Excellence in Education Award and enjoyed hosting many successful school book fairs.

Paula and her husband, Jeffrey, have been happily married for 37 glorious years. Their daughter, Abbey, is a teacher at New Hanover High School, and their son, Sam, is an engineer with Hoffman & Hoffman, both here in Wilmington. Paula and Jeffrey love spending time with their children and their spouses, and their grandchld, Sammy. The family loves traveling and camping together in their pop-up camper.

When she's not in the classroom, Paula enjoys singing on her church's praise team, cooking, reading, hiking, crafting, discovering new projects with her Cricut machine, and of course being a grandma.