A college student walks into a school other than the one they attend; They are so close to achieving their dream of teaching, they can feel it. 

One who’s close to that dream at CK is Sydnie Chouery, who taught in place of Mr. Rosenquist in October through half of November in room 3225. Chouery is taking a course on Student Teaching at Central Washington University and recently returned to Ellensburg. 

“I wanted to become a teacher for a very, very long time,” Chouery said. “I always played teacher when I was a kid. I think it was around the 9th or 8th grade. I was helping my friend figure out some science. She had been absent for a week and a half and had no clue how to fill out electrons.”

When Chouery’s friend had her “a-ha” moment, Chouery felt satisfied that she taught someone something that she thought was “cool”. Chouery also has a long list of teachers she’s been meaning to give thank-you notes to, but two stood out the most to her. Mrs. Ogden from her 10th grade Pre-A.P. Bio, who always had some sort of fun activity planned; and one of her professors, Dr. Q, who wasn’t popular with the students but it was clear that he cared for them.

“That meant a lot to me during that time period,” Chouery said. “Also, I love genetics and he taught genetics. And he taught me how to teach because he’s also part of the STEM Teaching Program.” 

Mrs. Ogden and Dr. Q made good impressions on Chouery as she did on CK freshman Kayson Hasegawa, who had her for 1st period Biology of the Living Earth. 

“A lot of the lessons she taught, she was very involved in them,” Hasegawa said. “She had a good lesson plan, she’s a good teacher. I think she’s ready to become a teacher. I’d like to see her as a teacher in CK sometime.”

Despite Hasegawa having this class early in the morning, he had no problem paying attention or fighting sleepiness. It’s a different experience when there’s a different teacher teaching the class, whether or not it’s in the morning. 

“I got pretty used to Ms. Chouery,” Hasegawa said. “Because having her for that month, I kind of forgot what it was like having Mr. Rosenquist as my teacher. So, it was different. Not saying it was a worse or better experience, but it was different.”

The experience did differ from the experience with Mr. Rosenquist, who originally taught the class. Rosenquist shows that few words can easily summarize a person’s progress. 

“She did well.” Rosenquist said. 

In a similar stance as Hasegawa, Rosenquist sees Chouery in a teaching position come Fall Quarter next year. Rosenquist also goes over the trust a mentor goes into their student.

“The hardest thing for a mentor teacher to do is give up the class and let the student teacher go through it,” Rosenquist said. “They’re inexperienced and she made mistakes because of that inexperience. It’s really hard as a mentor teacher to allow the mistakes to be made. She did a really good job of fixing the mistakes she was doing and coming back stronger.”

The progress that Ms. Chouery made was most definitely substantial. What’s also substantial is the satisfaction that comes when one successfully guides another to their goal.

“I guess I really like having people realize having the world around them works,” Chouery said. “It’s a nice feeling.”