There’s a common thought that teachers have it pretty easy. I can see where it comes from – I mean, look at the perks! We’re out of school for two weeks at Christmas, we get a spring break and many of us don’t work during the summer… and still get paid. What you don’t see are the countless hours spent grading, or the in class battles we have with other people’s children on a daily basis. That’s not a point of complaint, because with anything, there is a trade off. You don’t survive teaching, especially not teaching in an underserved community, unless you really have a love and a passion for your students. There has to be a motivator outside of money (we don’t get paid that much) – for me, the motivation has always been to make an impact on the students that enter my classroom.

Thankfully the JY Football staff thought enough of the rest of us to honor us at one of the first football games of the season, and with that, came the opportunity for each of the players to choose a teacher to honor – and sport their football jersey for a day. This being my third year at Yates, I’ve had the opportunity to see some of my students grow from freshmen to upperclassmen, and it was one of those students, Keyvon, who chose to honor me. He’s come a long way since his freshman year, now as a junior, I’m proud to have been his teacher since he started at Yates. It’s moments like this, that remind me exactly why I do what I do. I’m proud to be a JY teacher, and I hope that I will continue to make a lasting impact on those that I teach.