Teachers as Students

Jason Richardson

10/27/2023

Education is one of the most valuable resources we have access to as students, but for many of us our education does not end after four years of college. In 2021, over half of Americans between the ages 25 - 64 had at least 1 college level degree which is a 37.9% increase from 2009. Education is becoming increasingly more important to progress in career paths with dynamic and changing environments, such as the education field. Here at New Tech we actually have two teachers who have recently or had previously gone back to college after initial graduation. 

The first of these is Mrs. Leija, the AP Macroeconomics and AP Government teacher. She has actually wanted to have a master’s degree since she was young, and when she got older she decided she wanted to be a teacher. In 2016 she got her bachelor’s of Science and Education degree from UMHB. Later she went back to school at Sul Ross State University to get her masters degree in Political Science in 2020. Phenomenal the things you can learn during a life threatening pandemic. After getting her masters in Political Science she was able to teach AP macro and AP gov, which goes to show just how much furthering your education can open the door to new opportunities and career paths. To add to her positive schooling experience, she learned to enjoy learning and how to seek out knowledge. These are important life skills and characteristics of someone who wants to achieve their goals. And, as an added bonus, these things also help when teaching younger generations, she has both points of view and has created helpful learning techniques that she can implement when teaching. I think that Mrs. Leija’s education prior and during her teaching career has made her a great teacher, and is a perfect example of how education can benefit you even after college.

The other New Tech teacher who went back to school to further their education is Dr. Durfee. Dr. Durfee grew up in a single parent household where any help he needed school wise couldn’t be found at home. This, along with other factors, led to a rough end to his highschool career. This meant the foundation for his college academics was shaky, and friends and family advised him against going to college. However, he decided to go through with it anyway. In part, because so many said he couldn’t, but also because he knew even then the importance of education at a university level. He went to college for the first time in August of 1992 at UTSA and two years later in 1994 he was academically dismissed. This created doubt that he should continue with university, and this is when he found Darren Powell or rather his book “My American Dream”. This book inspired new motivation in Dr. Durfee’s pursuit of further education and to go back to school. He then went to attend Texas Lutheran University, which was a ninety mile drive round trip from where he had lived. To add to this he was also working at the same time to pay for his classes at the university. After getting his masters degree in Educational Administration with principal certification from Tarleton State University he continued his education even more and received his doctorate degree in history at Liberty University.

Photo By Jayden Stilley