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| Lacy, Colbie, and Kent Drake |
By Lacy (Romine) Drake, class of 2010, Integrated Language Arts major
Early on in my high school career, I knew for sure that I wanted to be a high school teacher. Growing up in Kettering, Ohio blessed me with so many opportunities and put numerous influential people in my life at all stages of my educational career. Those impactful teachers and coaches are the exact reasons why I am a high school teacher and head coach today.
My passion for reading and writing was always obvious (as was my dislike for math and science), so when I committed to Ashland as a student-athlete, majoring in Integrated Language Arts was a no brainer. I could not imagine teaching anything else, and I hoped to one day share my love for reading and writing with others.
It wasn’t until much later in my life that I realized what a tremendous and special place Ashland was. The countless hours spent in the library and Bixler Hall classrooms, the realization that English classes were no longer memorizing vocabulary words and simply reading popular novels, but rather digging for deeper meanings and going out of my comfort zone to engage in some of the most difficult and demanding material I would ever face. The English Department at AU is special. The professors pushed me, challenged me, and prepared me for life as an English teacher. Believe it or not, I still have my folders full of notes from my college days, which I reference often, sometimes with a chuckle thinking about the stress I put on myself during those classes.
After a very cold and wet graduation day in 2010, I accepted a Graduate Assistant position at The University of Findlay where I would coach basketball and pursue my Master’s Degree in Leadership and Administration. I then moved to the state up north and coached collegiate basketball for a year, followed by a year in Indiana.
In 2013, I got a call from Fairmont High School, my alma mater. They were interviewing for a head coaching position for the girls varsity basketball team and had a position open for an English teacher. Naturally, I jumped on this opportunity, and after a lot of prayers, I was offered the coaching job and a position as a high school English teacher.
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| The Drake Family |
I am currently teaching English 9, which is a co-taught block class for freshmen students who need additional support in English. This class also includes 5-10 international students each year, many of them having only been in America for a few months, with little or no English speaking skills whatsoever. I also teach Journalism and I am the adviser for our school newspaper.
My degree and time spent at AU is invaluable. I am forever indebted to Ashland and will continue to be a proud graduate!
“Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions.”
