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SBU | Life > Academics

The Heart Behind My Dream to Teach

Ella McIntyre Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

As I rapidly approach entering clinical block, basically pre-student teaching, student teaching, I can’t help but recognize that I am closer to becoming a middle school teacher than I expected. As if I time-traveled to this very moment, time has sped by. I wanted to break down two of the main experiences that have caused me to love the field of education and that have encouraged me to pursue teaching. 

Surrounded by Teachers

Neither of my parents are teachers. However, my mom and aunt share a similar circle of friends. As a result, I grew up with two incredible honorary aunts who just so happened to be teachers. I saw these incredible women as strong, funny, intelligent, and wholeheartedly themselves outside of the classroom. It was a no-brainer that I looked up to them. 

The lovely Renee Stento held consistency, sound advice, and a good laugh when you needed it. Mrs. Stento goes above and beyond for everyone, and still manages to be a master planner, delivering perfectly timed jokes and being welcoming always.

There is also Peg or Peggy Collins, who is my inspiration for all things English teachers. She has a carefree spirit while simultaneously caring the most about everyone. She loves to joke around and have a good time but knows when to snap back into professionalism, with a side of lighthearted banter. 

Both of these incredible women taught me so much growing up; however, the most important lesson I took away from them (so far) is how to be extraordinarily human. I learned how to make mistakes, focus on being comfortable with myself, and learn to love the mistakes I make and will continue to make. They made me fall in love with learning and let me find the teaching profession all on my own accord. Their support means the world to me, and I will forever be grateful for their influence and presence.

New Visions Education 

Truthfully, my senior year of high school was rough. New Visions Education Academy was my light at the end of the tunnel. Through my local BOCES, there were five New Visions Academies, one of them being Education. 

It was described to local participating high schools as a sort of “Pre-K” to college. The goal is to get a select number of students to experience the field they are most interested in, to see if they really want to pursue it in college. We had to submit an essay based on a common application for college essay questions, go through an interview process, and then discover if we were selected for one of the top three choices we could have requested to join. 

New Visions got English and Social Studies credit, and an academy class day, with two of the five school day weeks being “field days”, where students went to observe and participate in their chosen career field. New Visions was held in the morning from about 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., before students returned to their home district from our local BOCES. 

This gave me the opportunity to enter various elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, outside of the district I grew up in. We were in three classrooms for three weeks for each unit. The first unit is elementary school, then middle school, then high school. Our academy days were spent learning about various strategies, how to act in high school placements (given we were the same age as the students), and testing out and experimenting with a rough version of lesson plans and social-emotional learning. 

In addition to this wonderful career-centered experience, I was also able to make friends from other districts and bond in a way I normally wouldn’t if I were in my home district. At the end of the year, my New Visions Education teacher, Mrs. Bury, compiled a yearbook of photos she had taken and collected of our year in New Visions. In addition, our English teacher had each academy work on their own section for a New Visions yearbook. 

These yearbooks have countless messages from teachers and students of the year. It might sound silly, but usually once a year, I pull out the messages written in my yearbook from New Visions, re-read them all, and smile. Even if a lot has changed between now and my time in New Visions, I feel closer and closer to the excitement I have always had for wanting to be a teacher. 

Each day, I am growing into exactly the kind of future teacher I want to be. I would not be able to do that without Peg Collins, Renee Stento, the experience of New Visions Education, and now my college experience here at St. Bonaventure (so far). Thank you for shaping me into the person I am today! And thank you for helping me be a little more prepared for the future! 

Ella McIntyre

SBU '27

Ella is a member of the St. Bonaventure Her Campus Chapter. She plans on writing pieces that cover music, literature, TV and Movies, and the happenings of her life here at SBU.

Ella is a junior Inclusive Adolescent Education and English double Major. She enjoyed doing New Visions Education during her senior year of high school, which gave her a small experience of observing middle and high school classrooms. She has enjoyed exploring all of the clubs and opportunities SBU has to offer, and continues to do so by joining Her Campus, volunteering at the SPCA, as a member of the Bonaventure Education Association (BEA, and SGA representative for SBU for Equality and SBU College Democrats.

Outside of classes and Her Campus, Ella can be found studying, reading, or outside soaking up the sun (whenever it’s an option to “photosynthesize”). Ella also loves chatting with friends as a part of her not-so-quick study breaks.