Mrs. Kelsey Garver teaches Interior Design, Fashion Design, and Career and Life planning. She’s also preparing to have a baby right now, due March 31st.  We sat down to learn more about her experiences and how her year has been going.

Has it been stressful to teach while pregnant?

Not terribly, I get a little bit more tired than I used to but I don’t feel more stressed out than I was like last year.

What is the sex of your baby and do you have any names?

She’s a girl, and her name will be Eleanor Madilyn Garver.

How has your teaching experience been at Junction City High School?

It’s been good, I enjoy working with the kids I get to work with, and I enjoy, like, the other opportunities that I have like coaching.

What qualities do you think a teacher should have if they’re going to go into teaching?

I think teachers need to be really patient. That’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned is making sure that I’m patient with my students because sometimes they don’t understand things as fast as I would expect them to and that’s perfectly okay, it’s just learning to work with them. The other biggest thing is time management, takes a lot of planning and making sure that you’re planning the best lessons you can for your kids.

What do you enjoy about this job and experience?

I enjoy my content, I love being able to teach what I teach because it’s so specific no other teacher gets to do exactly what I get to do. So, I feel like that makes it unique and also, you know, what I’m passionate about. So I get to share my passion with you guys (students).

Why did you want to become a teacher?

So, I had originally started majoring in Interior Design when I went to college and I decided that I wanted to help people more than I wanted to be a designer so I kinda meshed the two together and I got to help students while also still doing the thing that I loved.

Do you have a story you’d like to share from when you were in student teaching?

My first couple days of student teaching I would walk around the school and, you know, I was still getting, like, acquainted with the building and I’d ask people where things were and a couple students were like “Oh!” you know, “Where’s your first hour? What class are you doing to? Who’s your teacher?” and I’d be like, “Well, I’m the teacher!” So… and they’re like “That’s so awkward!” and yeah, that has happened a couple times.

What were you like as a student? And do you relate to any of your students?

I was a really driven student so I really liked to get all my stuff done but I was also an athlete in high school so I knew that I had to balance all of those things. So, I relate to a lot of kids, I think, because I’m so young. I’m able to still relate to younger kids which is nice especially for now, I’m sure that’ll go away as I get older but I think it’s kind of a neat experience being young and being able to relate to all the kids.

Have you ever thought about having a different job like a childhood dream career?

I don’t think so, not for a while. I have thought of, I mean, maybe going in to things within my content, like interior design, but that’s really about it.

Do you have a hero? Someone you look up to in life, even now?

My mom, I look up to my mom. She’s my hero.