As students enjoy their last few weeks of summer break, Bibb County teachers are already getting ready for the first day of school.
Tuesday morning, Howard High School will be packed with 270 teachers and employees for Bibb County's New Teacher Orientation.
"My initial reason for becoming a teacher was because of the representation aspect of teaching," said new teacher Everett Reese.
Reese got a teaching job right after graduating from Morehouse College. Being from Macon, the Bibb County School District was at the top of his list.
"It's always been a dream of me and my friends to come back to Macon and be a part of the solution. So many of the people that come from Macon say they want to leave, and that doesn't help us. There's so many kids that were in our same situation -- we have to come back and help them out," said Reese.
He'll start his teaching career teaching 7th grade math Howard Middle School. Human Resource Coordinator Melanique Floyd is helping him and other new teachers get ready.
"We will welcome all of our new teachers to the district. We will have three days of training for them. They will be learning our program 'Get Better Faster,' how to welcome our students into their classrooms," Floyd said.
"I'm expecting to learn more about lesson planning, just any tips that veteran teachers have," said Reese.
Ashley O'Tyson is also a new teacher fresh out of graduate school and had experience within the Houston County School system.
"I've been living in Perry my entire life. I just moved to Bibb County last week, so I'm getting integrated into the community and I'm excited to learn more about the way Bibb does things," said O'Tyson.
"It kind of makes the first day jitters a little less frightening for them," Floyd explained.
"Definitely having these three days is definitely going to prepare me a little bit more than I would've been otherwise, so that's good," Reese stated.
Floyd says they're still looking to fill about 50 teaching positions ranging from elementary up to high school. They also need special education teachers.
Houston County Schools are welcoming about 200 new teachers this school year.