Teachers at Eagle High give their all to support their students, help them learn and equip them with the skills they need for success in and out of school. One example of a teacher who does all of this and more for her students is teacher Sarah Richins.
Richins teaches Earth Science, both general and honors, as well as Sources of Strength. She has been a teacher for six years, five of those years being at Eagle High. With all the experience she has gained from teaching, Richins has some advice for students who may need it.
“My advice for students at Eagle High School would be to be brave and try something new. Challenge your comfort zone. When I was in high school, I was so aware of what was ‘cool’, and I put myself into a box of things I thought I could do,” Richins said. “However, once I got older and life pushed me outside of my comfort zone, I found I was much more capable than I thought, and I had missed out on so many opportunities that I would have enjoyed had I just been a bit braver and gotten more out of my comfort zone.”
Even though Richins does such an amazing job at teaching and helping her students overcome hardships, she faces some challenges herself.
“One challenge I face as a teacher is when students are unmotivated or don’t have a desire to learn or work for their learning. This can be disheartening because I want all of my students to succeed, but they have to also want it and see the value of it for themselves,” she said.
Richins tries her best to motivate her students and get them wanting to learn, but she can only do so much for them.
“Another challenge is not having enough time to plan and prep all the cool things I want to do and try in with my classes. There are many wonderful things out there, but time does not permit me to do them all, so I just do what I can and hope it’s ‘cool’ enough,” she said.
In order to help her students get excited about school and learning, she tries to incorporate as many fun and engaging assignments and activities in her classroom as possible. However, time limitations stop her from being able to do everything she wants to do. So, students still should try their best to take charge of their own learning and education, even if it is not necessarily “fun” at times.
“I think the best way for students to succeed is to take responsibility of their learning,” Richins said. “If they choose to not do the work or take the actions to succeed, then they are by default choosing to not succeed.”
Richins believes that whether a student excels in school lies in their own control. They must want to succeed, try their best and do the work to reach their goals.
Despite all the challenges that being a teacher comes with, Richins really enjoys her job.
“I have always loved learning and wanted a job that I felt had a purpose and meant something in the scheme of making a world a better place,” she said. “Plus, the breaks and summers off was not a bad perk.”
Richins loves her job because it makes her feel like she has a purpose and that she is making a change in the world for the better. Also, any student can understand when she says she likes the breaks and summers off.
Eagle High is great because of teachers like Richins, students can get so much more out of their education. When teachers try their best to help their students enjoy learning, like Richins does, it makes class time much less stressful and ultimately, more enjoyable.
