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New teachers drawn to the profession by idealism and examples

By Brad Hundt staff Writer bhundt@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read
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Zack Pilarski

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Chelsea Fitzpatrick

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Mackenzie Garry

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Mikayla Golden

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Alex Pinarski

The news about teaching lately has been pretty downbeat.

Teachers have been exiting the profession in droves, according to many news reports, and young people are avoiding it like Kryptonite, leading to shortages in classrooms. Salaries are lower than other occupations that demand a college degree, and some parents and politicians are eager to target teachers, demonizing them and meddling in their classrooms.

Still, there are young adults who are eager to teach, to get in front of a classroom full of sometimes-animated, sometimes-obstreperous students day after day to pass along knowledge, help them think critically and offer up a dose or two of inspiration along the way. In many cases, new teachers are driven by idealism, a desire to be engaged in an honorable endeavor and to give back to the community. Some were also driven to teach because they were inspired by the teachers in their lives.

That was the case with Richard Houston, who is a newly minted art teacher at Brownsville Middle School. He graduated from the California campus of PennWest University in May, and was surprised and happy to find a full-time teaching job so soon after getting his diploma.

“I’m very grateful to have the opportunity,” he said.

Houston concedes he wasn’t the best student himself when he attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, but his art teacher offered encouragement to him.

“I realized that he inspired me to do something, and I would love to do that for someone else,” Houston said.

Mackenzie Garry, who will be teaching at South Central and Muse elementary schools in the Canon-McMillan School District, was also motivated to enter education by teachers in her life – her parents. Her father, Tim Garry, taught driver’s education and accounting in the Canon-McMillan district, and her mother, Ann Garry, was a sixth-grade math teacher in the Fort Cherry School District.

“I got to fall in love (with teaching) when I was a child,” said Garry, who graduated from Fort Cherry High School and Slippery Rock University. “I was always really passionate about teaching young kids.”

And if much of the recent public focus on teaching has been on its downsides, Garry recognizes its pluses: “Having summer off and making a difference in people’s lives,” she said.

Working closely with students at his church nudged Zack Pilarski toward a teaching career. Like Houston, Pilarski is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills and PennWest University, and will be teaching seventh-grade wood shop and eighth-grade robotics at Canon-McMillan Middle School.

“I think I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity,” Pilarski said. “I was very fortunate to find a job close to home, and in the content area I enjoy most.”

Chelsea Fitzpatrick, a PennWest graduate, will be teaching second grade at Marshall Elementary School in the Laurel Highlands School District. She explained that teaching was always something she aspired to do when she was growing up, and said, “I will learn as much from my students as they will learn from me. I can definitely see that.”

Mikyla Golden, who is also starting at Marshall Elementary School this academic year, said she is looking forward to making up songs to help her students learn math.

Alex Pinarski of Peters Township is set to be a permanent substitute teacher at Streams Elementary School in the Upper St. Clair School District. There were “a lot of factors” that played into Pinarski’s decision to become a teacher, among the most prominent being that it’s “a great way to give back to the community.”

What is the best advice he has received so far?

“Be flexible, pivot and adjust yourself and your lesson,” Pinarski said. “You have to be ready for anything.”

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