Seniors prepare to graduate from student to teacher

Thirteen years after stepping into the halls of their elementary schools to embark on their learning journeys, 14 Dartmouth High School seniors are preparing to teach the next generation of students.

On Friday, May 8 — the final day of Teacher Appreciation Week — these 14 students, educators and family members gathered together to celebrate the students planning to work in the field of education.

“They have spent the last 13 years learning in our classrooms, and now they have chosen to spend their careers leading in the classrooms,” said Dartmouth High School Principal Ryan Shea.

This is the first year the district has celebrated the seniors who will be pursuing a degree in education.

Shea called the event “very special,” noting that the school often celebrates athletic and academic signings.

“There’s something uniquely powerful about celebrating students’ decision to enter the field of education,” he said.

During the celebration, the students spoke about why they want to become educators and highlighted some of the teachers that inspired them.

Ella Gates, who will be attending Stonehill College to study speech therapy and become a speech therapist for kids, thanked the two speech therapists she had growing up.

“I was able to graduate from speech therapy and express myself and my voice, and they’re the reason that I chose this path,” she said. “One day I hope to help children to be able to communicate and share themselves with others, just like they did for me.”

Jill DuBois, who will be attending the University of Vermont, said that she knew she wanted to be a teacher when she was just 3-years-old and learned why when she became a student at Dartmouth High School and met Rachel Lassey, her volleyball coach.

“Although I never had her as a teacher, she opened her door to me and made me feel like I was,” DuBois said, adding, “[her] kindness made me realize that I wanted to create the same environment for future generations of students.”

Shea noted that often people say teaching is “innate” and noted that by pursuing a career in education, these 14 students are “demonstrating that now.”

“Choosing to become teachers who are choosing a path of service, leadership and lifelong impact, educating someone else [is] the greatest gift we can give,” he said.