An extraordinary teacher-student bond

Emily Bowlin laughed when she recalled the earliest memory of her ever having a career aspiration. “When I was really little, I wanted to be a garbage collector,” she said. “I have no idea why. I just wanted to ride on the back of that truck, standing up and holding the rail, while going through neighborhoods.”

That all changed when Bowlin, as a brand new kindergartener at Quail Run Elementary School, stepped in the classroom taught by Tonia McDermott. “Ms. McDermott had a way about her that was so special,” Bowlin said. “She made lessons engaging and fun. I remember when she taught us about Dr. Martin Luther King. She made a whole dance out of the facts about him. Teaching it to us as a dance made it simple to learn and so much fun at the same time. Ms. McDermott was created to teach.”

While Tonia McDermott may have, in fact, been created to teach, she admitted that she didn’t realize her own passion for the profession until she was in college. “I was a future teacher (Future Teachers of America—FTA) in seventh grade, and as a part of that, I helped a class,” McDermott revealed, “but I didn’t know that it was what I’d become in life until years later. I just knew that I liked helping others. I would explain lessons to other classmates if I understood it and they didn’t. I did that a lot all through school. That was an early indication, but I just knew I liked helping others.”

McDermott got her earliest education in the school system of Macon, Georgia. She received her degree from Georgia College and taught elementary education at other central Georgia schools before settling in at Quail Run. “I took the job at Quail the first year the school opened, and I’ve been teaching there ever since,” McDermott stated. “I’ve put in a total of 31 years, and 25 of those have been at Quail.”

From the moment McDermott began teaching, she knew that she’d chosen the right vocation for her life, and she said Bowlin was one of the reasons why. “When you teach kindergarten, pretty much all the kids gravitate toward you, so Emily wasn’t the only one that did that with me. She was a little different though,” McDermott pointed out. “Emily was in my class for the 2003-2004 school year, and she was just a sweetheart.” Recalling more, McDermott said, “She wore the cutest hair bows and always wanted to sit in my lap. Emily was that child who was kind to all of her classmates. She stayed that way throughout the year. As a matter of fact, she’s still that way now,” McDermott added.

Even after Bowlin left her kindergarten class, McDermott said that they stayed connected. “Her aunt taught at Quail Run too; she just retired a couple of years ago. Emily would come and help her aunt in class. When she was in high school, she went to Northside, and my husband used to be the assistant principal there, so he knew her as well. She cheered, so we would see her at ballgames.”

Bowlin eventually became a student teacher for McDermott’s class. But even before she began serving in that capacity, McDermott said Bowlin would come by and borrow materials for lessons she had to do in college. The fact that Bowlin chose to pursue education in college didn’t surprise her former teacher at all. “I would have been surprised if she hadn’t,” McDermott noted. “She’s worked in our after-school program at Quail Run for a few years now, and she’s just one of those people that loves kids and teaching.”

Tonia McDermott is now retiring after more than three decades. One of her few disappointments as a teacher is the inability to finish out her final year in the classroom with her students. The battle against COVID-19 forced the 2019-2020 year to end with virtual education.

“It’s hard to try to teach online,” McDermott shared. “With them being kindergarteners, I think that makes it harder. We’re using Zoom for the most part, but with my kindergarteners, I don’t really use that. I created scavenger hunts where we got to visit with each other and see each other’s faces.” McDermott went on to say, “Today would have been my last field day with my children, but due to all this, last year’s field day was the last one of my career; I just didn’t know it. It’s disappointing not getting those last experiences that I thought I’d have, but I have no regrets of my decision to become an educator.”

Nobody seems more pleased that McDermott chose teaching as a career than Bowlin. As a lifelong resident of Houston County and a graduate of Middle Georgia State University, one of the things in life for which Bowlin is most grateful is that she was allowed to sit under the tutelage of McDermott as a kindergartner. “I couldn’t have gotten a better introduction to learning. As soon as I began being taught by her, I knew that a teacher was what I’d grow up to be someday,” she said.

As McDermott retires, Bowlin will be stepping into her shoes—almost literally. Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, Bowlin will be the kindergarten teacher for the exact same school (Quail Run Elementary) and in the exact same classroom where she was once a student of McDermott’s. What makes it more poignant is the fact that it wasn’t orchestrated.

“It was totally unplanned,” Bowlin said. “At Middle Georgia State, when you reach your senior year, they have you request a top school where you’d like to student teach. If you don’t get it, they just place you in another school. I requested Quail Run, but I didn’t select a grade level—you can’t specify that. I could have gotten anything from Pre-K through fifth grade.” Bowlin further explained, “That request goes to the college and the college, in turn, goes to the principal of the requested school to see if they have any opportunities. As it turns out, there was space, and when the principal selected the room for me, it just happened to be the same grade and the same classroom that I started out in as a child.”

Bowlin said that it feels as though her life has come full-circle. “I’m so thankful for it,” she said. “To be in that classroom taking on this role is amazing. Ms. McDermott wasn’t just my teacher in kindergarten; she has been my mentor from kindergarten all the way to now. She helped me with my early childhood education classes in high school and she helped me build lesson plans there. I’ve literally been learning from her from day one of my schooling. And to go back and teach in the same classroom where I started has such a special place in my heart.”

When it comes to experienced wisdom, Bowlin feels that she learned from the best, and she intends to carry what she gleaned from McDermott into her own classroom. “I’m taking everything!” she exclaimed. “All the things she was to me, I want to be that to my students. She wasn’t just the teacher coming into the classroom teaching lessons; she also built relationships with us like we were her own children. She got to know us and included our interests in the learning process. That’s what I want to do.”

Even with COVID-19 remaining an issue, Bowlin is excited about her forthcoming teaching experience. “If we have to start the year with virtual learning, I’m ready,” she said, mentioning that McDermott prepared her for that too. “I’ve been working with her ending out this school year, so if we have to start next year like this, I’m very prepared. It will be different, but I know I can still build solid relationships with my students, even virtually.”

Bowlin said that McDermott didn’t just make her another student, and she won’t do that with her students either. “I’m thankful that she allowed me to build a close relationship with her, and not only have her as a mentor in my student teaching process, but also in my life—from kindergarten to middle school to high school. Even now, I know if I need her, she’ll be there for me. Because of her, I know this is what I want to do, and I’ll do it until retirement just like she’s done.”

McDermott said when she looks back over her career and sees former students like Bowlin, it makes her happy for the profession she chose. “I’ll miss the children most of all,” McDermott said of her retirement. “But, when I see kids like Emily, I know I did something important with my life. She’s proof that it mattered.”

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