The best successes always come from being passionate about something. A lot of times, people start off with a dream but never accomplish it because they lose passion for it. But that wasn’t my mother’s case. My mother, Sarah Noland, works in the Department of Special Education, specifically math. Currently, she is partaking in a class to receive her Doctorate. My mom graduated from high school with a goal of becoming an English teacher and attended Maryland State University. Not long after getting into college, she quickly realized that being an English teacher was not her calling. My mom ended up teaching every subject, including reading intervention and eventually ended up in the math department full time as a Special Education Math specialist. She spends every day at every school in Calvert County working towards a better future for mathematics.

          I asked her what makes this job so special to her. She replied with “When I was in high school, I had the most amazing English teacher. She believed in me. She is the reason I wanted to become a teacher. When I decided this is what I wanted to do with my future, I had one goal and that was to ensure that kids didn’t struggle like I did in school and to be the teacher that believed in them. It only takes one teacher to change a students life.” This moving statement leads me into my next question, what is your favorite part of the job? She responded with “My favorite part of the job is still being able to work with kids even after not continuing teaching. It’s what I love.”

          I followed this question up by asking if there was a certain time she felt she truly helped someone that stands out to her. She replied with “I was a special education teacher and there was a student that had autism. He had significant behaviors because he couldn’t cope with the structure of the school day. The bells, the number of people, the tasks, the noise. He would hide under bookcases and elope from the classroom. Everybody else would always say ‘When is he going to get out of here, when are we going to move him to a program’ and I said stop. Can you just give me some time and I will figure it out. I met with behavioral specialists and developed a plan. His team of teachers were adamant about him being in a program but because of me accessing resources and collecting data, he didn’t go anywhere. To this day, I still see his mom and everytime I do she says ‘If it weren’t for you Ms. Noland my son wouldn’t be where he is today.” I then asked her what tips she would give to any people who are thinking of following this career path. She said “Remember you are there for the kids and to make them feel safe and protected.”

          If you ever have doubts about teachers not liking you, always remember there is always at least one teacher you can count on.