Ruth Hammond Mast (formerly Ruth Bailey and Ruth Hammond at South Meck) grew up in Clearwater, Florida as the oldest of six children. Mrs. Mast graduated in December of 2004 from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC with a B.A. in English Education. Additionally, she played four years of division 1 basketball for the Runnin' Bulldogs as a shooting guard and was a Strength and Conditioning All-American.

The 2020-2021 school year will be her sixteenth year teaching at South Meck. She will be teaching English 2 Honors and English 2. Previously, she served as the English 2 Lead Teacher for seven of those years. In her career as an educator, Mrs. Mast has taught 8th grade Language Arts, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English (inclusion, standard, advanced, and honors), Newspaper, Creative Writing, Fundamentals of Composition, and Foundations of English 2. Additionally, she currently serves as the English department faculty member on South Meck's Scholarship Committee.

Mrs. Mast enjoys living in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte with her husband Nolan, son Josiah (20 months), and two miniature schnauzers, Roxy (12) and Annie (9). In her spare time, she enjoys playing with Josiah, reading books, walking her dogs, going on dates with Nolan, and attending Carmel Baptist Church. She also really enjoys her students!