Teacher Profile Series: RGS teacher Morgan Hunt

Some people get an idea of what they want to be when they grow up while they are in high school. Some people go to college to figure that out. Then, there are people like Morgan Hunt who have it all figured out by the time they are three years old.

"I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was three," Hunt said. "While other children were playing with barbies, I was playing school."

By the time she was in high school, she told her mom that her dream job was to be an elementary teacher and a cross country coach.

Now, about three years out of college, that's exactly what she is.

Hunt is in her third year as a teacher at the Ritzville Grade School. She teaches fifth grade. In addition to her job as a teacher, Hunt is the high school cross country head coach for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos.

Hunt grew up in Lebam, Washington, a small town in western Washington that has a population of less than 200. She graduated from Willapa Valley High School.

After high school, Hunt moved east to Cheney to attend college at Eastern Washington University. There, she briefly considered another major. Very briefly.

"I thought about psychology for about one quarter," Hunt said. "I didn't love it. I took it fall quarter of my freshman year. I thought, 'Maybe I'll try psych, I'll take it just in case,' but I didn't like it."

So she committed to her first instinct of studying to become a teacher. She graduated from EWU with a degree in elementary education with an endorsement in literacy reading and writing.

After earning her degree, she moved to Ritzville to teach fifth grade. Hunt knew she wanted to teach elementary aged children, not middle or high schoolers.

"Grade schoolers are a little more lovable," Hunt said. "I mean, high schoolers are lovable in different ways. But you see a lot more growth in learning with little kids. You see where they are when you start and where they are when you finish. It's a little harder to see that with older kids."

Hunt said she was happy to find a job at a small school. While she lived in Cheney and briefly in Spokane while attending college, her hometown of Lebam is even smaller than Ritzville. So she says she feels comfortable living in a small town.

"It's like where I come from but bigger and it has a Starbucks," said Hunt, who met her husband here.

As soon as she started the job, she knew teaching was where she belongs.

"When kids show growth, and when they get something that they have been struggling with for a long time," said Hunt, "that look in their eyes is something teachers really strive for. To see the kids be so excited that they finally got it just warms my heart."

After teaching fifth grade for two years, Hunt was moved to the third grade. That move, however, didn't last long, and she was asked to return to fifth grade. Principal Cindy Deska recently presented Hunt with the "Above and Beyond" award for her willingness to be flexible and teach where needed.

Shortly after starting her job, an assistant track and field coaching position became available. Hunt applied for it and was offered the job. Not long after that, the cross country coach left. Hunt thought the program could be more than what it was. So she became the cross country coach.

"I ran cross country and track in high school," Hunt said. "I was never spectacular but I really loved it ... And it just kind of followed along with me. I still love to run and I love the distance."

Last year was Hunt's first as the head coach of the cross country team. She had five boys and one girl. This year, she has doubled the overall number of athletes and has seven girls and five boys. She said the growth came from her lone female runner from last year wanting other girls to run with.

"[Linnea Schafer] said 'Coach Hunt, I really want a team,'" Hunt said. "I said, 'OK, what are we going to do?'"

So, Hunt and Schafer focused hard on recruiting enough girls to form a girls team.

"We talked to people," Hunt said. "I tried tried to emphasize my love for running and how great it is and how awesome a sport it is. All of a sudden, our numbers grew."

In addition to her job as a teacher and coach, Hunt is currently working on her master's degree at Western Governors University.