On Tuesday, Starr’s Mill honored its seniors who are going into an education profession with a sports-style signing day. Starr’s Mill High School is the first school in Fayette County to do a signing like this. 

“I’m so glad the school did this. I think this is the first one that we’ve done, and I hope we continue to do it in the future,” Executive Director of Human Resources for Fayette County Erin Roberson said. “We need to put an emphasis on education because it is such an important field. We need our best quality students going into education to become future teachers, and so [this signing day] encourages them in that journey.”

Eight students were honored as a part of teacher appreciation week. 

Sarah Bleil and Janni Carter will study middle and high school education. Katelyn Griffin will study early childhood ESL education, Nicholas Haney will study elementary special education, and Jada Powell will study deaf education as a specialized interpreter.  Cassidy Scoggins will study kindergarten education, and Camdyn Sweatt will study elementary education. Ethan Gibbas will study music education. 

“[Teachers] want to encourage all of our students and let them know how important it is to be an educator and how vital young people are to this profession,” guidance secretary Stacy Nichols said. “We want to recognize them because it is such a special thing to devote their lives to education.” 

Over the past decade, the number of teachers nationwide has declined by almost one-third. Nonetheless, educators are upheld for their passion and the commitment to their students, especially in Fayette County. 

Jada Powell has gone through all three years of the early childhood education pathway at Starr’s Mill.

“I want to be a teacher because of my brother,” Powell said, “He has some disabilities, and we were in a rough school situation in the beginning, but then we moved over here, and one of the teachers at the elementary school was the biggest advocate for him, so that inspired me to do specialized interpreting.”

Other graduating seniors attribute their inspiration to previous teachers, like Sara Bliel, who found inspiration from her third grade teacher and Starr’s Mill French teacher Jill Snelgrove. 

Signing day was scheduled as part of teacher appreciation week.