Many eighth graders might know Miss Hargis, an eighth-grade Language Arts teacher. She started teaching at GEMS 10 years ago.
Even in third grade, Miss Hargis knew she wanted to become a teacher. “I wanted to be a teacher, a dentist, or a vet, but then I decided I wanted to be a teacher because I had such great teachers growing up who made school really fun.”
As she grew up, she loved middle school more than elementary or high school. “I always thought I wanted to teach elementary school, but if I were to tell you whether I liked elementary school, middle school, or high school the most, I would actually say middle school. I think my experience in middle school is what made me want to teach middle school.”
When she was a student, Miss Hargis had good grades and loved going to school, but she knew not everyone felt the same. “Even though I was a really good student in school and always got good grades, I know that’s not the case for everyone, and not everyone loves school, so I try to make eighth-grade English as fun as possible because I know middle school is hard, especially nowadays.”
The life of a teenager today has changed a lot and may even be considered more difficult for some teens. Let’s dive into Miss Hargis’s perspective on this.
When Miss Hargis was younger, she faced many challenges. One of them was finding good friends. She stated, “Even though I had friends, I never felt like I was included. In high school, my friends went down different paths I didn’t want to go down, so I just struggled with loneliness and feeling like I didn’t fit in.”
I asked Miss Hargis how she felt about a teenager’s life today, and she said, “I think it’s changed a lot. There were challenges when I was a teenager that all teenagers face, regardless of what year it is, but I would say social media has changed life a lot for kids these days, and I actually think kids these days do have it harder.”
We’ve learned a lot about Miss Hargis, from how she first decided to work at GEMS to her own life as a teen to her perspective on a teenager’s life today. Now, here’s one last piece of advice from her: “I probably would have tried to have more fun in high school because I think I was so worried about getting good grades. But I also felt like I tried to get good grades because I felt that was the only thing I had control over. I would just have fun and realize you’re only young once, so it’s okay to have fun, but obviously still make good choices.”
