Through their eyes

It all started with Laura Meyer bossing around her four brothers as a child — she just knew she would need to find a career that offered leadership opportunities. That realization, combined with her hunger for learning, led her to the natural conclusion that teaching was the perfect fit for her.

“I am one of those people who was born to teach,” said Meyer. “It has been my plan since I was a little kid, and I’ve never looked back.”

Now a sixth grade teacher at High Desert Middle School, Meyer is in her eighth year of teaching at the middle school level, which she loves.

“My first student teaching placement landed me with seventh graders, and it was a major ‘aha’ moment for me,” said Meyer. “I felt like I had found my people. I guess I have the right combination of bossiness, optimism and sense of humor to fit right in.”

Working with preteens and adolescents might seem challenging to others, but Meyer has a keen appreciation of their energy and fresh-eyed view of the world.

“They have all these contradictory things that are true: super self-centered, but deeply passionate about justice; clueless about some things, but weirdly insightful about others; brave and inquisitive, yet shy and unsure,” said Meyer. “Middle schoolers are both weird and awesome, and I love them.”

Meyer is inspired on a daily basis by the kids in her classroom, and enjoys watching the light bulbs go off over her student’s heads as they understand something for the first time, are enthralled by a fact from ancient history or succeed in trying something new.

“Working with young people is almost never boring, because they are proof of the fact that you can always look at something in a new way,” said Meyer. “I am also inspired by the long view: I’m impacting the future.”

Meyer is often surprised and delighted with the abilities of her students. One of her most memorable moments as a teacher came when she was asked to recommend a student to give an end-of-year address. Meyer selected a young man who was not a particularly high achiever, but she could see his potential. Together they worked to craft his speech, only to find that during locker clean outs the day before the assembly the speech was thrown away.

“After searching the bins, he slumped home in defeat, empty-handed,” said Meyer. “But the next morning brought that student to my door with a smile — he re-wrote the speech from scratch, ending up with a completely different vibe. And it was way better. He surprised me during the delivery to the class with a shout out for believing in him. Mine weren’t the only wet eyes in the gym that day.”

Armed with the beliefs that knowledge is power, and that there is no barrier to a person’s curiosity other than time and inclination, Meyer finds great fulfillment in her work.

“I love having a job where I get to try to stimulate that adrenaline rush that comes from learning something new every day,” said Meyer. “Education doesn’t just come from school; but school is a great place to strike the spark and fan the flame.”