As high schoolers prepare for summer vacation, some Revere teachers prepare to embark on new adventures in their careers and lives.

Jessica Mackey, in her fifth and final year at Revere High School, aspired to be a teacher since she was a child. She discussed how her childhood inspired her to pursue teaching.

“Both of my parents and sister are teachers, so I’ve been around it all my life.  I spent many evenings in my mom’s classroom in the evenings doing school work while she worked and prepared for her lessons,” Mackey said.

Mackey commented on her school experience and how her teachers affected it.

“I saw how they made school fun and I knew that I wanted to be a teacher that kids wanted to be around, and just maybe make school just a little bit better,” Mackey said.

Fellow Revere High School teacher Nicholas Kos discussed how, he too, was influenced by his childhood teachers to pursue a career as a teacher.

“I had teachers that influenced me greatly in my life and I really liked to read and write so becoming an english teacher just seemed like the natural thing to do. I like helping students reach their full potential whether they are realizing it at the time or not,” Kos said.

Kos, who has taught at Revere for eleven years, is attending The University of Akron and will graduate the spring of 2020. Kos will be taking a sabbatical for school and will be returning to the district. He shared what he is pursuing.

“[I want] to get my masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I’m hoping to get a school counseling emphasis on it so I can kind of teach the whole child in a sense, so from an emotional, social, educational standpoint and apply that in my lessons as I’m teaching,” Kos said.

Mackey is currently attending The University of West Alabama and will be graduating this December.  She is studying School Counseling. Mackey explained her reasoning as to why she wanted to pursue this subject.

“I really want to be someone that students feel comfortable talking with, especially when they may be struggling.  I don’t want the guidance office to be an intimidating place where you only go if you need help. Everyone needs someone that they can trust and feel comfortable around, and I just hope that I can be that person for my students,” Mackey said.

Mackey also discussed that the students at Revere actually inspired her to go back to school.

“As a teacher, I was fortunate enough to develop some really great relationships with several of my students.  I loved that some of my students felt comfortable opening up to me and I felt that counseling would be a great path for me to pursue,” Mackey said.

This will be Mackey’s last year at Revere High School and is moving out of state this summer. She commented on her experience working at Revere.

“I feel so fortunate that I have been a part of the Revere community for that last few years.  The experiences I had with the students here, truly reminded me of why I became a teacher in the first place.  I’m extremely sad to leave Revere, but I am excited for the adventures to come,” Mackey said.