Student reunites with former teacher to thank him for sending him down right path
WAKULLA, Fla. (WCTV) - David Jonathan says he has always wanted to be a teacher. It’s who he is. But, he says, it can often be a thankless job.
But, when he sees success in students, like Jesse McCarley, he says that’s what it’s all about.
From student and teacher to student, teacher and friend, McCarley was in Jonathan’s class almost two decades ago.
“Most of those kids you lose, they just go their own way and don’t want to deal with life,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan taught students who were facing behavioral and academic challenges. Many battled drug use or problems at home.
For McCarley, a difficult divorce led to problems in the classroom.
“We weren’t going to find purpose in school,” McCarley said. “Academics just was not our driving factor, we weren’t thinking about college, we weren’t thinking about anything other than escapism.”
Then, he found Education First, a non-traditional class designed by Jonathan that taught real life skills like building a business a networking.
“I never thought that you could reach out and touch a kid’s heart and his life with what you teach and how you teach it,” Jonathan said.
The students created television and radio shows, went on special field trips and made documentaries.
McCarley, now in the Air Force, says these skills are what he uses every day to be successful.
“There’s not a one size fits all for education, and for learning and skill development,” he said. “And sometimes people just need a different direction to take. When they get that direction and they’re exposed to it, they are capable of more than most of what people thought they could do.”
Jonathan says he hopes that McCarley’s story can inspire other kids who may struggle in the classroom that they can still succeed in anything they put their minds to.
Jonathan is now retired.
Education First became a 501-C-3 in Manatee County and, he says, he hopes to see other programs like it in the area.
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