One of my former students from Mississippi, Kalessia, heard about our blog, and sent us a postcard! It was such a wonderful surprise to hear from her after all these years. She was in Tampa on business, but tells us that Florida was as beautiful as always. She also said that she enjoys to travel…so we hope that she’ll have the chance to go somewhere just for fun next time.
I had to opportunity to teach Kalessia Spanish I and II when I taught at T.L. Weston High School in Greenville, Mississippi, as a young 20-something. She was a member of the Class of 2000, a group that holds a special place in my heart as I had a group of those students in my homeroom for my first four years teaching.
A page from the T.L. Westin yearbook during one of my first years as a Spanish teacher.
I’d never really thought about a career in education until after college when I graduated with degrees in Spanish and Anthropolgy and had no job. I heard about a program called the Mississippi Teacher Corps that offered college grads the opportunity to move to Mississippi and teach. The program offered me free tuition, room, and board at Ole Miss working toward a Master’s Degree. In exchange, I agreed to teach for two years in a district in Mississippi that couldn’t find enough teachers.
Long story short, I fell in love with my school, its students, and teaching. I stayed there six years before moving back to the Midwest to be closer to my family.
On Monday of this week, I started my 20th year working in education, first as a teacher and more recently as a building administrator. Kalessia and her classmates were the first group I had from their freshman to their senior year. They were a special group of kids–after all, they hooked me on being a teacher. I’m blessed to have known them, and am thankful that I had the opportunity to work with them.
And so far, Kalessia remains one of this teacher’s favorites, especially since she’s the only one from T.L. Weston to send us a postcard (wink, wink) so far.
