JEFFERSONVILLE, Ga. — Districts across Central Georgia are back to school Monday, including Twiggs County, where a brand new teacher has a special connection to the school.
At Jeffersonville Elementary School, one of the five new teachers is already very familiar with the school.
Marvesha Stephens is getting ready to welcome her second graders back to school. She was the 2018 valedictorian of Twiggs County High School and attended Jeffersonville Elementary, where her mother is also a teacher.
"I'm glad that I do have the opportunity to work where I started," said Stephens.
Stephens, also known as "MO", did dual-enrollment while in high school, so she was already a sophomore in college when she graduated. She completed college in three years, even though her senior year was drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stephens wasn't planning to become an educator, but when her classes at Georgia Southern were suspended due to COVID, she came home and began substitute teaching at Jeffersonville Elementary to help out.
Stephens says she was surprised by how much she loved it. She is teaching math, but says her primary focus is building relationships with her students.
"If you don't have a relationship with the students, they are not going to act how you want them to or communicate with you how you want them to," she explained. "So once I build that relationship with them, I know that they will respond to me how I need them to respond."
Stephens says she is grateful for all the support she has received from her fellow teachers as she begins her first year.
Both Marvesha and her mother, paraprofessional Mrs. Angeline Stephens, are pursuing their masters' degrees.
RELATED STORIES