After years of dreaming hard and working harder, senior online Elementary Education major Terri Williams will achieve her greatest goal

For years senior Elementary Education major Terri Williams nursed a dream of becoming a teacher while trying to find a program that would work for her busy schedule. Williams turns 50 this year and is a single mother who, despite the desire and motivation to teach, had trouble taking the leap because she wanted to enroll in a seated program and struggled to find one that fit her work schedule and family responsibilities.

But this May, her dreams will be realized when she graduates from the college’s online Elementary Education program with her bachelor’s degree.

“I felt bad because I wasted so many years trying to get in a seated class, that I’ve let years go by trying to make it fit my schedule. I was really apprehensive, so when I found out that Lees-McRae has an online class, that helped me more,” Williams said. “I had options being a single mom that worked three jobs. Now I’m trying to maneuver from three jobs to one job. With help and support from Lees-McRae and the instructors, I’ve almost been able to accomplish that.”

For the past eight years Williams has worked as a teaching assistant at Jonesville Elementary School where she learned the ropes of working in a classroom and fostered her passion for working with students. While she said her time as a teaching assistant has been invaluable, she always knew she wanted to have the additional responsibility of leading her own class.

Not only do lead teachers have more responsibility over lessons, but, according to Williams, they also have the opportunity to make a greater personal impact on their students. Connecting with students, and motivating them to achieve their own dreams, is one of the things Williams enjoys most about working in education.

Throughout her time in the program at Lees-McRae she has made an even stronger connection between her experience earning a bachelor's degree and her students’ time in the classroom.

"‘Ms. Williams knows how you feel when you take an EOG. Ms. Williams had to take a praxis, and the same way you feel, I feel.’ I relate my whole college experience to their experience, and I live it out because then I become a living example of perseverance no matter what,” she said. “What I have been taught, and the instruction and advice I have been given at Lees-McRae, has helped me to be not only a better future teacher, but a better person. It has helped me to persevere, it’s helped me to endure, it’s helped me to be honest with myself and cooperate with all the things that are uncomfortable. These are the exact same things that we as future teachers are teaching our students.”

Following graduation, Williams will have all the qualifications she needs to begin her work as a lead teacher, but her ambitions do not stop there. She has goals to earn her master’s degree with a focus on English and language arts, and, further down the line, pictures herself owning her own tutoring service and even becoming a spokesperson for the transformative potential of education.

“It hit me about three weeks ago that I am graduating, and I was sad because I’m leaving a place that has nurtured me for such a long time to become the person that I am becoming still,” Williams said. “I would encourage anyone to invest in Lees-McRae because without a doubt, they are going to make sure to lay a foundation of whatever field you’re going in. It’s quality education, and I would refer anyone there. It’s more than just a school, it’s your future.”