America needs more K-12 educators.
Five soon-to-be Trigg County High School graduates made their promise to become one Thursday morning in the Little Theatre, each of them signing the dotted line on the “Future Teachers” program — four at Murray State, and one at Kentucky Wesleyan.
Madi Moser is the lone renegade — bound for Owensboro and the Panthers — where she will pursue elementary education and cheerleading, two of her passions while being a Wildcat.
Choosing elementary students, she said, was an easy decision, and she “definitely wants to come home.”
Madison Fears, meanwhile, said she was raised around little kids her whole life, and feels like this is “her calling.”
In order to continue a family legacy, she’s going to be a Racer — 35 minutes down the road — and in honor of the late Chappel Allen.
Fears admits she thought about Hopkinsville Community College and Western Kentucky University as options, but Murray is “her place.”
Her backup plan to elementary education, she said, was equestrian studies, and eventually being trained enough to offer riding lessons to children.
At MSU, horses and teachers are commonplace, and she can pursue both, and she plans to chase a master’s degree before returning to Cadiz.
For Akia Kearney, her path to high school agriculture education and Murray State University comes with what she believes to be divine providence.
Kearney said choosing MSU was an easy decision for several reasons, but namely it feels like home, and it can offer an education similar to the one her teachers — Karen Nolcox and Noah Peake — received and returned to them in the classroom.
Teaching and the medical field, she added, have tugged at her heart for years.
Denise Young, Trigg County’s college and career counselor, said Thursday’s signing served as a great opportunity to celebrate future teachers just like student-athletes and their commitments to universities.
Young said all five of these students have, at times, spent the last four years showcasing interest and development in education.
They have to meet prerequisites for the “Future Teachers” program, and she is looking forward to their return to western Kentucky’s classrooms.
Two other students wished to remain anonymous, but their efforts — and their anticipated return to the schools as leaders — can be celebrated just the same.
