Teacher encourages students to prepare for their future

Ninth grade social studies teacher Katherine Boudreaux at Houston County High School is touched that her peers chose her as Teacher of the Year.

“I was really touched by my fellow teachers choosing my as Teacher of the Year,” she said. “I think that was the best part of it, knowing that the people who I teach with, my coworkers, thought enough of me to vote me as Teacher of the Year.”

Boudreaux has been teaching at Houston County High since 2002. With her husband serving in the Air Force, she said she took a two-year break. They were transferred to Las Vegas and then returned to Houston County and she was hired back on at the school. Boudreaux has also taught in Germany for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools, as well as in Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Georgia.

Overall, she has taught on and off since 1977. Originally from Louisiana, she and her husband came to Warner Robins in 2001.

Boudreaux received her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and her graduate degree was from a joint program between Armstrong State and Savannah State. Her gifted endorsement came from the former Augusta State College.

Boudreaux said the administration at Houston County High is very supportive.

“I can’t imagine teaching anywhere else in the county,” she said.

Why teaching?

“I’ve always liked it. I remember one time I got in trouble for talking in middle school and so the teacher made me teach the class, and I really liked it. So, that was something that I always wanted to do.”

What brought you into the field?

“I had a teacher in high school, Mrs. Hasselbring, who was an amazing social studies teacher. I absolutely adored her class. That’s when I decided that I wanted to teach social studies.”

Any inspiration from past teachers?

“Yes, Mrs. Hasselbring, and my senior English teacher, Mr. Cobb, was really great.”

Best part of teaching?

“My best part of teaching is being around the kids. I love being around the kids. I love to see when they understand something and you can see that light bulb come on and then, ‘Oh, I got it!’ I just really like interacting with the kids.”

What is it about teaching that you like the most?

“I really think it’s so nice for my former students to come back to see me and they’ll say, ‘Oh, we were just talking about this in college and we heard it in your class first.’ Or, they come back to see me and let me know how they’re doing and what they’ve accomplished. I really like that.”

Most challenging part of teaching?

“The most challenging part is paperwork and keeping up with all of the requirements that they have. The teaching is fun, but the paperwork gets a little tedious sometimes. That’s probably the hardest part.”

Anything that makes your job difficult?

“Sometimes the students want to talk too much, so that can be a little discipline problem. But, really nothing else other than that.”

If not teaching, what?

“Well, I’ve done other things because moving around when my husband was in the Air Force, I had to find different jobs. Probably the favorite one I’ve had was doing real estate title searches for real estate attorneys. That was my fall back job. I’ve also been a secretary and other things, but that was my favorite one.”

Advice to students:

“Take your life seriously from the ninth grade, especially take your grades seriously because those are going to follow you when you’re trying to get into college or a trade school. They are going to want those grades and if they look at your ninth grade year and you didn’t work as hard as you could, that could be a determining factor. You need to learn to make sure that you do things because you’re supposed to, not because mom and dad say do it. You need to discipline yourself so when you do go to college or you go into the workforce, you’re ready.”

Advice to parents:

“Let your kids make some mistakes. Let your kids advocate for themselves. They need to do that. They need to find out that there are consequences if they do something wrong; there are consequences if they do something great. They need to learn that before they get out of school and go away to college.”

Home life:

“Both of my kids are now teachers. My daughter, Carla Kathleen Boudreaux, teaches English at Chattahoochee High School in Fulton County and my son, David Tod Boudreaux, teaches fourth grade at a school in Orlando, Florida. My husband, Stacy, is retired Air Force. He does all kinds of stuff at home. We have a pretty quiet life.”

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