by Roman McDonald
Devin Rachels, a practical celebrity at Captain Shreve High School, has a very interesting background. Let’s take a look at where she was born, her journalism background, and her career as a teacher.
Mrs. Rachels was born and raised in Las Vegas, where growing up in the 90’s was an exhilarating time for the “Impersonator Island.” Las Vegas was one of the fastest growing cities in the world at that time, and with it being such a fast growing city, Mrs. Rachels changed between several elementary schools, which is a struggle on its own. Being that she was in the land of impersonations, she also was able to see many Elvis Presley impersonations, along with Marilyn Monroe impersonations as well. So growing up in Las Vegas during the 90’s was a fun and very fascinating time for Mrs. Rachels.
Jumping ahead, Mrs. Rachels graduated with her degree in Journalism. She then began to work at the Shreveport Times for four years covering breaking news and journal assignments. Although she was a reporter, she did a little bit of everything working at the Shreveport times. “I loved it, I absolutely loved it”, said by Mrs. Rachels about her being with the Shreveport Times. Leaving Shreveport Times, Mrs. Rachels moved on to SB magazine where she worked for six years as the executive editor. This however was a different role than what it was at the Shreveport Times. As the executive editor Mrs. Rachels was still able to write, but not as much as she had at the Times. She wrote about three to four stories every month, which is a drastic change from at the Shreveport Times where she was writing stories practically everyday. She was still able to take photos, and be a part of the actual design of the publication. Mrs. Rachels also helped other journalists that were new, or possibly freelancing, to figure out their passion in journalism, and how to improve upon those skills. Mrs. Rachels described Journalism as a tough industry, and relating with her now as a teacher, she stated that she would not go back as a full time journalist, possibly going in as freelance, but even with that Mrs. Rachels prefers teaching.
“Teaching is where my heart is, and at the end of the day I feel like I have a greater impact with what I’m in now.” Mrs. Rachels takes pride in building good, healthy relationships with her students at the beginning of the year to break down those walls that students have. She believes that if she is going to teach students those barriers need to be broken down in order for them to truly learn and grasp the information that is being taught to them everyday.
She starts by getting to know her students and creating a safe space for them, and once they start to trust her, they then begin to respect her. She doesn’t enjoy that sort of “adult over children” view. In a perfect world, sure, but that’s not realistic though. She says that we are human beings on the cusp of adulthood, and that you respect people because you want to respect them, and that respect is earned from both sides.
Corresponding to building relationships with students, Mrs. Rachels says that she sees growth in her students year after year. Former students come to visit her, and with certain things that she may have helped with, she has seen those students flourish in what they are doing.
Personally speaking, Mrs. Rachels has encouraged my love for reading with the way that she constantly pushes us to read what we enjoy, and not just forcing us to read something that we don’t find interesting. Mrs. Rachels truly does a spectacular job at what she does, and hopefully she continues to stay the same and also grow even more as time goes on.