Teachers of all different subjects in all different grade levels have one thing in common: their passion. Educators from around the campus left a message for all of their students. In them, they express how their love stems from a place beyond the classroom and into the lives of the young adults everyday.
Nona Kummell: “When life goes on, you find that encounters with people are never random, they are on purpose. I think everyone we met has a purpose in our life… Through sharing the tears and the happiness, through sharing all of the many emotions we go through every single day, that it is almost like I am touching the essence of God by touching my students.”
Daniel Ward: I know not every student wants to tell me stuff and some students tell me more than what I want but I’m glad I can be that resource and that safe space… That’s why I really love it, I love you guys.”
Melissa Taylor: That desire for knowledge and knowing things really translated well for me to eventually want to become a teacher… I dream of a world where we look beyond the political borders that divide us, that we see beyond the socioeconomic barriers that prevent us from getting to know one another. I hope that we can find empathy and understanding for people who are different than us and I hope that by taking this World History class that students can find the story that binds us all of us together, all of humanity. I think it’s beautiful.
Kristin Norgart: “I decided to become a teacher my after my Junior year of high school with my World History teacher… who made me realize how much impact a teacher can have on a student’s life… I went into teaching knowing that I wanted to be that for kids. I wanted to be that teacher that they felt comfortable talking to, coming to if they needed something- even if it had nothing to do with US History.”
Alyson Neeley: “It very quickly becomes: they’re your family and they’re your kids and when they succeed, you succeed and when they fail you take that failure to heart and you want them to do better… It’s about helping students find their voice and find their place in this crazy world that we live in and it starts here in the classroom. ”
Alan Cotten: “I started teaching because I began tutoring my Freshman year in college for a whopping five dollars an hour but it was a good deal because I didn’t pay taxes. I became a science education major and then I started teaching and I loved it… I enjoy watching students whenever I feel like something I do makes them understand and I like making difficult material seem easy and interesting.”
Cerissa Johnson “My passion isn’t for teaching isn’t teaching the curriculum or material, it’s more so teaching the student as a whole, getting to know the student, and also being able to see them realize their worth and their successes along the way.”
Stephani Biggs “My goal was really to show high schoolers there’s a big world out there. Other people speak different languages, there are more cultures, and if they can learn to appreciate that when they’re in high school, maybe it will help them when they get older.”
Allison Thomas: “I started subbing and working as an AVID tutor at Timber Creek and that’s really where I fell in love with the idea of teaching… I got to work one-on-one with the kids and I really got to help them grow as students and as people and come up with ways to solve problems where they realize they actually knew the answer and they knew how to solve it one their own… That’s where I realize that I wanted to go into teaching continue to help students build up that confidence and be that teacher they could always look to for support and for love and to care after them.”
Teachers of Timber Creek are dedicated to helping each and every student. Their efforts should never go unappreciated, remember to say thank you for everything they do.
