IMPACT by Mackenzie McCollum

I spent my last day eating entirely too many donuts, cupcakes, and confetti cake and going through massive amounts of tissues because I was emotionally out of control. I could NOT imagine student teaching anywhere other than Central Columbia High School. My cooperating teachers have impacted me more in the last four months than I thought was humanly possible. 

As teacher, you spend a lot of your time thinking about how to positively impact the lives of the students that you see every day. You hope that you make a difference. You hope that you impact all of your students, but at the end of the day, you know that it has been a success if you have reached just one student and changed just one life.  It was not until yesterday, that I realized what a profound impact my students had on me. That one life that was changed indefinitely was mine.

Teaching agricultural education at the secondary level with Doug Brown, Curtis Turner, and Jen Fisher has solidified my desire to go into the agricultural education profession.  But it has been the students that made me realize how much I am going to love this career. Those students ignited a fire in me to go out and do everything that I can to spread agricultural literacy and make the kind of impact on my future students that my students from Central Columbia have made on me.   Just like I told one boy, the only two things that you have control over in life is your effort and attitude and that is enough to make you successful at whatever you choose to do.

Last night, I wrote every student that I taught a thank-you note, but no amount of gratitude for the experiences that I have shared at Central Columbia is enough. If you want the chance to make a difference in the lives of your community’s youth & ultimately change your own life, consider a career in agricultural education.

Submitted by:

Mackenzie McCollum

@McCollumMac

2013 Student Teacher

Central Columbia