Teacher Profile Series: New RGS teacher Carley Stanford

Carley Stanford is in her first full year as a teacher at the Ritzville Grade School, however, she isn't a new face to students and parents.

Before future teachers graduate college, they have to student-teach at a school. It's not common for a teacher to then get a job at that same school. However, that is exactly what Stanford did.

She started student teaching at RGS in September of 2018 and finished in January 2019. She was immediately hired to finish the school year and now has a permanent job at the school.

Stanford knew she wanted to teach ever since she taught swimming lessons during her sophomore year at Odessa High School. So she reached out to one of her teachers and started planning for her future.

"I told my business teacher, Terri King, and she helped through the path and decide where I wanted to go to school," Stanford said. "She said that Eastern [Washington University] had a good program."

Stanford did on-the-job training at the kindergarten in Odessa during her senior year of high school.

"I spent every day there for a couple of hours and absolutely loved it," Stanford said. "I ran my own reading groups and knew that's what I wanted to do."

Stanford graduated high school and attended EWU. She says Cheney was the largest city she had ever lived in and that she has always been comfortable in a smaller city.

Stanford says she knew she was going to major in education when she went to EWU. She never really considered another major.

"I took some other classes," Stanford said. "I took some science classes, some nursing classes. I did fine in them, but I could not see myself doing something like that for the rest of my life. I did enjoy the classes, but it wasn't something I could pursue forever."

Stanford said she remained convinced that teaching was her true calling.

"I like teaching because I am able to look at the next generation," Stanford said. "I am able to create an impact on these students."

So when it was time to declare her major after her sophomore year, she declared education.

She was at EWU for four years and the first quarter of a fifth. It was during that final quarter that she had to finish her student teaching. She told them she'd go wherever she was assigned and she was sent to Ritzville to teach first grade.

She said she quickly knew that she loved it there and would accept a job should she be offered one.

"The staff made me feel very welcomed," Stanford said. "The kids, staff, parents, it's just a very welcoming community ... Every morning I woke up and knew I wanted to come and student-teach. It just felt right. You don't find that often ... I never thought I would have a job where I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and I can't wait to go to work."

Stanford also said Ritzville is a good place for her because it keeps her close to her home in Odessa. She started dating the man who would become her husband as a sophomore in high school. They attended EWU together and got married last year. They both have jobs close enough to make their home in Odessa.

At the start of this school year, Stanford moved to the third grade. She says has enjoyed connecting with all of the students she has taught.

"I am able to build a connection with each of the students and each connection is completely different," Stanford said. "You don't think it's going to happen like that, but it does."

Now that she has been teaching for about a year, she says feels she was right to decide on education as a career.

"When I am having a bad day and then I come here, I always feel happy because the kids make me feel happy. I love that about teaching," Stanford said. "It's my happy place. It's everything I hoped for and more."