Meet Ms. Keesee, one of the many teachers the world is quickly realizing has been quietly doing so much more for our kids than we ever realized.
The school drop off was always considered, in the most part, quite the norm. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdowns and school closures, parents are being abruptly thrown into not only homeschooling and e-learning, with a sudden understanding of how much their children’s teachers were really doing for their kids.
Ms. Keesee is one of those teachers. Teaching 1st Grade in Columbia, SC, she really takes it to the next level with her students. Andrea Keesee has been a military child for her entire life. She understands, as many of us do, what she calls the “fun share of emotions” that military life brings to children. Ms. Keesee’s father served in the Army for just over 21 years. Following his example, and inspired by her childhood, which she now considers the greatest experience of her life, she decided to join herself. Excelling through JROTC in high school as a top leader, and earning a college ROTC scholarship, she was then commissioned as a 2LT in the Army in May of 2014 and has been serving ever since. On top of her full time teaching career, she is also a 1LT Chemical Officer with the 218th MEB Brigade.
As you walk through the doors of her classroom you can instantly understand why those of her students who are also military children feel right at home. The Army Green is not hard to miss as it colors the floors to the ceiling of her room. Ms. Keesee goes even further than her Army-themed decor and learning tools such as the “Cadet of the week,” the canteen, reading bunker, platoon groups, and much more. She emulates the military’s core values and instills them into her class, or as she likes to call them, her “Cadets”.
She says, “Knowing that I get the opportunity to walk into a classroom that I personally love, while also teaching military core values including leadership, respect, integrity, and teamwork/selfless service makes my job so much more meaningful.”
Meaningful is exactly how many would describe Ms. Keesee, and those many teachers that have been working so hard to instill in our children such core values, while at the same time teaching the most rudimentary and crucial learning skills necessary for them to succeed. While parents all over this country and world are facing that task of attempting to alter their role from parent and friend to teacher, they are able to see first hand how gifted teachers truly are. With patience, understanding, and care teachers day in and day out guide our children into reasoning, learning, and so much more.
When this epidemic finally does subside, and schools reopen and resume their eight-hour days, one can surely imagine that morning drop off will never be the same. For just as this time has given us an appreciation for many other aspects in this life, it too has surely given us an appreciation for teachers.
