BY BRIANNA WARE, Sophomore
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| GAYHEART VIDEO FEATURE |
BLYTHEWOOD--Mr. Gayheart’s story about becoming a teacher is different than most, and in some ways inspiring. As he describes how he became a teacher, he tells how his family helped him.
“How I became a teacher is a little different than the normal route to teaching. Normally, you would go to high school, then you’d go to college, and you would become a teacher. Well, I dropped out of high school; just got too caught up in the nonsense, all the distractions, and dropped out. After I dropped out I ended up getting a GED, I worked a lot, went into the military because I didn’t really have any other options,” Gayheart says.
Though Gayheart did drop out of high school, he had his wife and daughter pushing him to move forward and strive to be better.
“When I got out, I met a woman who would become my wife and when she got pregnant I sorta had a “come to Jesus” meeting with myself. Do I continue to do the same nonsense or do I put my big boy pants on and grow up? So that’s what I did. When my daughter was born, I took my GED, applied to a community college and went to a community college for a few semesters until I was transferred to Winthrop University where I got my bachelor's degree in history and a master’s degree in education,” Gayheart continues.
Gayheart enjoys teaching. He likes the working environment here at BHS and the students here.
“I got a job teaching here at Blythewood High School. It’s a big school, there’s a lot going on, but the students here are very good. It’s a good working environment and I enjoy it very much,” Gayheart said.
Gayheart’s favorite part about being a teacher is connecting with the students and having a positive relationship with them.
“The thing I look forward to most is coming in and chatting and playing around with the students. At the end of the day it’s about relationships and in ten years from now, you walk out of my psychology class, are you gonna know anything about psychology, maybe, maybe not but you’ll remember the attention I gave you, the one on one relationship,” Gayheart said.
As Gayheart says, he wanted his students to remember him and their one on one relationship and attention he gave them.
“My first impression of Mr. Gayheart, he was cool, nice. He wasn’t pushy or strict,” sophomore Bianca Walker said. “He’s still cool and casual and a good teacher.”
“He’s a pretty cool guy, my impression of him, he’s fun,” freshman Kaleilah Jones said.
Gayheart describes the moment when he realized he wanted to go to college and complete his education.
“When my daughter was born and i had the realization that I wanted to go to college and the fact that I screwed around what should have been my high school career put me behind and the fact that I was always behind was an ever present thing in my mind that gave me a sense of urgency to continue and to strive and push and to hurry up. So being in college I always had my past pushing me forward.”
