By Cal Clapper

I first met Mrs. Peters when she was student teaching last year. Her warm, calm, presence and contagious laugh makes the ceramics room a sanctuary for her students. Taking over for the previous ceramics teacher Ms. Fasen, Mrs. Peters began teaching at McCaskey at the beginning of this year. Only a few months in, she is already beloved by many students, but her journey to this position was not a simple one.

Mrs. Peters didn’t originally want to be a teacher: “When I was in college I didn’t think that I would like teaching.” She doubted that she had the skills to teach students and thought that she “wouldn’t be good with other people’s kids.” Instead of teaching, she followed her creative passions, studied art, and got a degree in ceramics. She worked as a potter and a parent volunteer as her own kids went through the school system. She was an active participant in PTOs and other organizations: a frequent positive presence around schools. Even when she wasn’t teaching, her devotion to the kids in the district was remarkable. “This is the district I know, these are the kids I love.” 

A few years ago, when she went through a period of personal struggle, she sought to find something that brought her joy. “I went through a really hard time in my life and I started asking myself, what is one thing that when I do it, it’s fulfilling?” With all of her experience in and around the district, she said “the one thing that came to mind was being around students, being around kids.” 

After this realization, she began working as a kindergarten aid at a local elementary school, but she still had doubts about becoming a teacher. The teachers she was working with assured her she was “great with kids” and should consider doing this. 

With this motivation, Mrs. Peters went back to school and got her education certificate. When deciding what she should teach, her past experience with ceramics led her to choose clay. Luckily, a position at McCaskey as a clay teacher opened up at the perfect time: “It was a really good fit, both for me and for the school district.”

When I asked her what she wanted her students to leave her classroom with, she told me this: “As my students think about growing up and going out into the world, hopefully they will be people who will remember, let’s think well about the people around us, and be genuine and kind.”