Eventually I realized I needed a change, so I started looking at colleges with the idea that maybe I’d go into teaching. I live in northern Nevada and didn’t want to go too far from home, so when I heard about Nevada State College’s partnership with my local community college, I knew it was a great opportunity.

The program offered a combination of televised classes from Henderson and on-campus courses here in Carson City. Classes were very small, with typically eight to 15 students in each class, and if you ever had a question you could just call or email the instructor.

My on-campus instructors were working elementary school teachers with master’s degrees. They took a very hands-on approach and they knew what they were talking about—because they called on their own experience. You could sense that they had a real passion for teaching, and that passion carried over into my own experience as a teacher.

I did my student teaching in a second-grade classroom in the Douglas County school district. Every Friday night during our student-teaching semester, the class would get together to hash out our experiences and get feedback from the instructor. I had a great experience with student teaching, and then right after graduating I got a full-time job at that same school.

Last year was my first year as a full-time teacher. It was the toughest year of my life—but also the best. The teaching theories I learned at NSC make more sense, now that I’m in front of students every day. I love seeing kids experience “aha” moments when they understand a concept for the first time. And when my class received their scores on a big test recently, it was hugely rewarding to see how I have changed these kids’ lives.