Stephanie Serrato told herself not to get worked up. Her heart was racing. She was anxious, her countenance screaming frustration.
She vented to her mother, “Mom, when am I going to get this job? They say it’s a teacher shortage. I don’t understand.”
Minutes later she received a text message that validated her years of hard work.
Serrato, of Schererville, accomplished her lifelong goal of becoming a teacher. She will be leading a classroom at Homan Elementary School in Schererville. It is the same elementary school she attended as a child. But more importantly, she’ll be moving into the room next door to the person who predicted this moment — her kindergarten teacher.
An affinity for teaching
Cindy Sweeney always had a hunch Stephanie would be a teacher. Sweeney has seen hundreds of students pass through her classroom throughout her 36-year teaching career. But Stephanie stood out.
“Stephanie was this itty-bitty blonde girl with a cute little voice,” Sweeney said.
The traditional first-day-of-school chaos is typically the same: Crying kindergartners fearful of separating from their parents squirm in their chairs as they begin to adjust to a foreign setting and an unfamiliar teacher. But one class nearly two decades ago was different. Sweeney still remembers Serrato’s calming presence. The youngster would soothe her peers and provide comfort to the children who were nervous and tense, Sweeney said. She would assist her classmates with the same math problems, puzzles and reading assignments she was tasked with.
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“She was always playing teacher in the classroom,” Sweeney said. “She wanted a red pen, she wanted some stickers, and she wanted to tell everybody what to do.”
Sweeney decided to reach out to this student who seemed to have an affinity for teaching.
“I told her mom one day how helpful Stephanie was in the classroom and I gave her a little packet of teacher supplies.” The handful of teaching supplies — red pens, stickers and a pretend grade book, among other items —Sweeney gave her student 19 years ago proved to be prophetic.
About 15 years after that, Serrato reached out to Sweeny. She was now majoring in education at Indiana University-Bloomington and wanted to observe Sweeney’s classroom for a day as part of a college requirement.
Two years later, Serrato returned to complete her student-teaching requirement with Sweeney.
Following a dream
For as far back as she can remember Serrato wanted to be a teacher. She never second guessed or wavered on what she wanted to do for a living.
“I definitely wanted to be a teacher since I was little and that never changed,” Serrato said.
Karen Serrato, Stephanie’s mother, said she knew her daughter would be a teacher when she was two-years-old.
“She was always so caring and trying to help other little kids,” Karen Serrato said. “She even spent a lot of time playing school with her brother and sister.”
She said she gets emotional thinking about how determined and focused her daughter was throughout her life on accomplishing her goal of becoming a teacher.
“I’m in tears now because I’m so proud of her because she followed her dream,” Karen Serrato said. “She didn’t stop. She was focused on learning as much as she could about teaching.”
While most children wanted games and toys for their birthday and Christmas, Stephanie Serrato wanted teaching supplies, her mother remembered.
“Santa Claus went to the teaching store and got her a whole bunch of stuff,” Karen Serrato said.
Santa brought Stephanie Serrato three plastic drawers filled with teaching supplies. Although those original supplies are long gone, the three plastic drawers are in Serrato’s classroom today.
Coming back home
Stephanie Serrato said things couldn’t have worked out any better.
“Homan was my number one choice,” she said.
A week before the school year was to begin, Serrato sauntered through the hallway of Homan Elementary School in disbelief.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “Homan is like home. I know it sounds cheesy but it’s true.”
She said she remembers the school being bigger. But everything else is still familiar.
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington last year and spending a lifetime waiting to be a teacher she will officially begin her teaching career this month.
From her classroom, Serrato can look into the same classroom where she learned addition, subtraction and improved her reading skills. There is a passageway that connects Serrato’s and Sweeney’s classrooms.
“It’s already unbelievable that I’m teaching here at Homan, but to be teaching kindergarten next to my kindergarten teacher is crazy,” Serrato said.
As her first school year as a teacher approaches Serrato said she’s a bit apprehensive but she takes comfort in knowing that she has a strong support system.
“I’m nervous but I’m also super excited,” she said. “I’d be way more nervous if I were somewhere else.”
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Despite the nerves, Stephanie’s mother is confident her daughter will be an excellent teacher.
“There’s no doubt she’s going to do a stellar job,” Karen Serrato said. “This is all she ever wanted to do was be a teacher. That’s what her job on this earth was to do: to teach.”
Twitter @Javontea