Standing in front eager elementary school students, helping them learn the basics of education, senior Gabrielle Carnes works towards becoming a teacher.

“It’s not even just teaching them how to just do science or math, but also teaching them what are emotions, how we respect other people and show them that we’re all human,” senior Gabrielle Carnes said. “We all make mistakes, but we’re supposed to just love other people.”

Carnes’s passion for teaching others stems from her mother, who worked as a paraprofessional at an elementary school. 

“I think that I just had such good mentors growing up, that I fell in love with mentoring other people and making people feel loved,” Carnes said.

Through a future educator program at school, Carnes experiences the opportunity to work with her former second grade teacher, Michelle Nowinski, to learn more aspects of teaching. Carnes drives to Switzer Elementary four times a week to work with kindergarteners.

“Future educators really opens up that door of opportunities,” she said, “where people who want to become teachers or thinking about teaching, can get their foot in the door ahead of time.”

In Carne’s second year of the future educator class, taught by Lisa Willerick, she gained experience and confidence in the classroom.

“Gabby is very patient and she demonstrates a true genuine caring for others,” future educators teacher Lisa Willerick said. “She definitely is able to show empathy for others, which are key characteristics of teachers.”

This past summer, she was a part of a Next Generation Teacher Program at Wayne State University in Detroit. Carnes’s interest in teaching in lower income areas is something her father, David Carnes, believes she will be able to accomplish. 

“Gabby’s commitment to teaching in potentially challenging environments, such as Urban or Inner-City Schools, underscore the ongoing need for her resilient spirit,” her father David Carnes said.

To further her passion for teaching, Carnes is considering attending either Central Michigan University or Wayne State University. After college, she is leaning towards third through sixth grade education, as well as getting K-12 certified with special education.

“I love being in the heart of Detroit. And that’s where I really want to end up teaching,” Carnes said. “That is really a big reason why I want to be teacher.”

In the future, Carnes fears not liking a career in teaching or feeling like she made the wrong choice, but her passion for teaching others and being there for them pushes through those thoughts.

“What it really takes to be a true teacher is, to show those kids that at the end of the day when you walk in that classroom that you are going to feel loved,” Carnes said. “You are going to feel chosen and you’re going to know that when you come back in tomorrow that you are just as important as you are today, tomorrow and always.”