It’s no secret that the country is in a national teacher shortage.
Education Week recently reported that this past year there were 55,000 vacant teacher positions in the United States.
As more teachers are retiring, fewer university students are pursuing a career in teaching. Adventist education is not exempt from this situation. There is a growing need for more individuals who are willing to consider a change in career. As you read the following stories of individuals who have done this very thing, prayerfully consider if the Lord could be leading you to the classroom.
Mr. Andrew Boaz – Sunnydale Adventist Academy
Mr. Andrew Boaz teaches History, Government, and Vocational technology at Sunnydale Adventist Academy. The students in his classroom would probably be surprised to learn that teaching wasn’t Mr. Boaz’s first career. Andrew actually worked as an industrial and commercial electrician and acquired a journeyman electric license long before becoming a teacher. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy working in construction. In fact, he found great satisfaction in his work.
Looking back, Andrew realized there were a series of experiences the Lord used to guide him into teaching. At age 38, he returned to college considering a career in social work or law enforcement but as God led, Andrew realized he could have a greater impact as a teacher.
Andrew began his teaching journey in the public school system where he worked with second-chance students, the majority of whom had been in trouble with the law. He taught at three Adventist schools before coming to Sunnydale.
When asked about his calling to teaching, Andrew said, “God is using me at Sunnydale Academy, in the same way that He is using all teachers, staff, pastors and individuals who are working for Him. God takes their personality, their skills, their talents, and creates in them someone who can draw others to Him.”
Mr. Boaz reminds anyone who is considering changing careers that God can take all the experience and wisdom you learned in your first career and use it in the classroom.
Mrs. Julie Olson – Andrews Christian Academy
In my first career, I was a neonatal nurse at the University of Iowa. I worked 10 years in this field and really enjoyed it.
There were a couple of things that inspired me to make a change. First, there was my dear fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson. She often said I was equipped to be a teacher. I loved teaching my little sisters and would often have “school” for all the neighborhood kids. However, when I went to college I decided on nursing. I was incredibly shy and it was a major where I didn’t have to take speech class!
Fast forward a few years and I had a family and chose to stay home and raise my four children. When it became necessary for me to go back to work, I knew it would be challenging to have a nurse’s schedule and get them to church school and be with them in the summer. I remembered what my teacher had said and was really impressed to go back to school to complete the courses I needed to be a teacher. Mrs. Anderson was still my greatest cheerleader!
I have just completed my 18th year of teaching. My children have long grown up, and here I am still teaching at Andrews Christian Academy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and loving it!
Our schools are evangelism in action every day. I may not be comfortable doing door to door witnessing, but there is nothing I love more than sharing the love of Jesus with my students every day and weaving it throughout our lessons! We don’t have to go far away to be a missionary—God is bringing His dear children to us, especially the immigrant and refugee families we serve.
If you feel God nudging you to be a teacher, know that He will equip you. I even passed speech at 40! I have never regretted following God’s prompting. Being a nurse was right for that specific time in my life, and as life changed I feel God led me to a career that I enjoyed, that worked well for my family—and it is such a precious ministry.
