Though she’s been spending a lot of time in the classroom lately, Maddie had never considered becoming a teacher before college. It wasn’t until she spent a summer in Washington, D.C. as an educational tour guide for middle school students that she started to suspect she might have a calling. “This whole new exciting version of myself just suddenly came out when I was with students,” she laughs. “I realized I needed to figure out a way to make this my job. I was like, ‘Oh, duh, I should be a teacher.’” Maddie quickly changed her major and hasn’t looked back. This semester, she’s a student teacher at Beadle Middle School in Omaha and putting to practice the work she’s done to pursue her passion. “It’s been so cool to see the ideas I’ve been studying be used in real-life classrooms. I’ve been able to directly help students through a lot of the same concepts we’ve been learning.” Beyond applying the knowledge she’s gained, Maddie’s relishing the chance to build relationships with stud...