The Impacts Of Education

Growing up, Rachel Collins dreamt of becoming a firefighter, but today she’s putting out fires of a different kind.

As a student, Ms. Collins had many experiences in education, both positive and negative. These experiences ultimately shaped her future and play a major role in the diligent person she is today.  

Collins first noticed that there were flaws in the educational system when she was singled out in third grade. Throughout her childhood she always had issues spelling, which prompted the decision of her teacher to place her in a second grade classroom. Throughout this time she reported feelings of stupidity, and stated that the teacher had “hurt her soul”. This gave her a first hand experience with the lack of empathy in education, and she’s carried her knowledge from this event throughout her life.

While she refers to herself as academically “average”, Collins struggled with math for most of her teen years. Because she found this class so challenging, she asked frequent questions. However, her teacher did not take her questions seriously, as they thought Collins was just being sarcastic and sent her out the door. This occurred numerous times, and gave her another reason to doubt the educational system.

It wasn't until a 10th grade Language Arts teacher confronted her about her abilities that things started looking up. Deep down, Collins knew she was a hardworking student, but none of her other teachers seemed to notice it inside her. This teacher was an exception, as he put her forward as “Student of the Month”, claiming he saw a “spark” in her. Collins says that this “was a pivotal moment in my life because that was when I began to think college may work for me”. She also mentioned that this  helped her realized how impactful teachers could be regarding how things go in the classroom. This highly influenced her overall path in life, giving her the motivation to go on to help and assist students on the verge of adulthood.

While Collins grew up wanting to be a firefighter, her views quickly changed after she went on a high school job shadow. There she found that firefighting wasn't the right career path for her, but she still longed to have a job assisting people.  

A few years later, Collins went on to college and obtained a bachelor's degree in English/Secondary Education. Her journey to achieve her degree wasn't easy, as she found herself pregnant with a boy her freshman year. To make matters worse, her son’s father left the picture when he was only ten months old, leaving Collins a single parent. Despite her complications, she achieved her goal of getting a degree, and even continued on to receive her masters! She got her first teaching job in August, 2001, as a building substitute at Metro High School.

Unfortunately, Collins wasn't making enough money to meet ends meet, so she had to get a second job at Tanager Place during breaks and holidays. During her time working at these two schools she noticed how a lot of the students had complex issues outside of school, and Collins felt she didn't have enough training in social, emotional, and behavioral issues to be able to fully help her students.

Collins decided to apply to grad school because of this, and continued to work as a teacher while attending.

A few years later in 2005, Collins made the decision to apply for an Language Arts teaching position at Kennedy High School, but fully intended to become a counselor there when she was eligible to. So, when two counseling positions opened up there a year later, she was able to obtain one of them. As of 2018, Collins has worked at Kennedy for 14 years, and when asked about how she feels about her job, Collins said “ I don’t love every aspect of my job, but I very much enjoy helping young people and feel confident in my abilities to do so. I know the work I do is meaningful and though I may not have an impact on every student, I know I am helping those that need me the most."

While Collins went through many phases in her life, from wanting to be a firefighter to becoming a school counselor, she always desired to leave a positive impact on the world.  So while she may not be putting out fires today, she considers herself to be a firefighter of the mind, extinguishing the fires in her student’s lives.