Students were stressed about an upcoming test in Independent living, so Megan Edwards pulled out a box of markers and helped the students make stress balls. As the students worked on their study guides, she put the renowned show Friends on in the background. Then, she walked around answering everybody’s questions. Teachers who educate life lessons will always leave a lasting impression.

FAC teacher Megan Edwards began working at MCHS three years ago and has made an impact since. Her job as a home economics teacher is to teach subjects based around nutrition, budgeting, cooking, child care, and other home skills. 

Edwards usually sets up the foods room during a passing period or free period. On a cooking day, when the bell rings, her students eagerly rush into class. Some of the students tie back their long hair, then they all wash their hands and read their recipes.

Near the end of the school day, Edwards often goes grocery shopping for her food classes. When she returns to school, Edwards puts away the groceries and then she heads downstairs to coach girls basketball. 

“If I can make it to the grocery store and back during eighth [hour], I’ll go then,” she says. “If not, I’ll go on my way home after [the] practice/game and store the groceries at my house. Then, [I will] bring them back [to school] in the morning.”

Edwards’ has been teaching for nine years, and her desire to teach life lessons to students comes from her experience leaving high school and feeling ill prepared. 

“[I wanted to teach foods] because it’s a major life skill that all students need to know. Plus, it creates a fun atmosphere, you get to see the students on a different level. It’s more hands on, so you get better responses from the students instead of it being constant book work.” 

Having to work in a 45 minute class period can be stressful because, depending on the food, it can take awhile for the students to cook. 

“You have to really work at a fast pace and sometimes that gets hard to do.” Edwards said. “It’s stressful, but it’s fun when [the students] actually rise to the challenge and get it done.”

There are no classes that are Honors or Advanced placement in the FAC department, however there is a new capstone class for more advanced cooking classes. 

“So we have Warrior Chef, which is our new capstone class, [and] would be the closest to that possible, where we’re basically turning it into a restaurant. It’s very high expectations, but at a very fast pace so probably more rigorous [than] you’ve seen.”

She explains further how the Warrior Chef’s can choose their own recipes, but how they are limited to stay within a budget.

“We have a budget that we [are allowed to spend on groceries, and] have to stay within each year … in our lower classes [I choose the recipes], but in Warrior Chef they do a lot of the choosing … and it’s fun when they get to pick because then they put more [effort] into it knowing this was their choice, and not just something I’m just throwing at them.”

Edwards coaches basketball, so she doesn’t have many days off. But she does form bonds with the players, so they respectively try the hardest in her classes.

“Oh yeah, [my players are] actually my better students because they know the way I am, and they know that if they don’t respect me in the classroom there’s gonna be, you know, issues on the [court]. I get pretty good respect from all my students whether they are my players or not.”

Challenges arise when Edwards cannot be in two places at once. 

“So, us FAC teachers do not have our own classrooms. We already have so many different classes that we teach, so we don’t have like one said spot. It’s okay, but it stinks because if my East students need me throughout the rest of the day I’m not there.”

Edwards teaches Independent living which is a class that fulfills students’ consumer ed requirement for graduation. She wants all of her students to feel at ease, especially since the students in independent living are nearly graduating. 

“[I’m especially passionate about] independent living because there’s a lot that comes with it,” Edwards exclaimed. “I want [the 11-12 graders] to feel ready to be on their own, so I really take that class seriously to, you know, help them feel better, because I didn’t have a class like that, so I was kind of a little nervous not knowing what to expect and [I] learned a lot of things the hard way.” 

Her desire to educate students about life lessons doesn’t end there, Edwards also teaches child development. 

“[I also teach] child development, and they do a lot of hands on [activities] and they’ll actually get to go observe the preschool classroom that we have to see how actual preschoolers interact with each other. And, it’s kind of helpful because everyone’s going to be around kids at some point, whether it’s their own siblings, kids that they [might have in the future], or [if] they’re going to work in an environment with kids.”

Edwards might be a newer teacher in the building, but she has already influenced students 9th-12th grade to gain skills that will stick with them for life.