Danielle Server
Staff Writer
Teachers have a special role in this world to teach and be role models for their students. Since the first day of his high-school freshman history class, Brian Bessey found his calling to do just that.
Bessey is a junior honors student from Casper, Wyoming pursuing a secondary education history degree with the University. In his three years at UW, he has landed on the President and Deans list five times and has maintained a 3.83 GPA.
“I know that if I had not went to college, I would have maybe had a better paying job than teaching, but my life is better because I studied and I came here to follow my passion,” said Bessey, “That’s the thing about teachers. They are not trying to be [an] average thing. They are always trying to do the best thing. They are trying to reach out and be the best they can.”
When Bessey was just a freshman in high school, he came to the realization he wanted to be a teacher. After observing his history teacher, Mr. Fleming, at Kelly Walsh High School in Casper, Brian realized he had found his passion.
“One of my professors on campus, Dr. Kambutu, told us [my class] that teachers are peacemakers. They sacrifice themselves for the other. So ever since I heard Kambutu say that, I have honestly believed that’s exactly who I want to be,” said Bessey.
Professor Kambutu, a professor of educational studies, has been an influence on Bessey since his freshman year of college by molding him into the kind of teacher he wants to be.
As a future teacher, Bessey said he realizes the importance of the classes he has had and are currently taking. By using his time in college to learn and grow as a student, Bessey said he feels he is better preparing for his future students. He does this by making it a goal to not skip class, in order to make the most of the money, time and resources he has invested into his future.
Bessey not only uses the time in class to learn the material, but he also uses it to observe and analyze his professors for their teaching, something he has been doing since high school.
“I can’t stand [it] when fellow students in my education classes don’t show. You are not just robbing yourself or whoever is paying your college tuition, you are robbing your future students of their future. You won’t be as good as a teacher if you don’t show up to your classes,” said Bessey.
Bessey also emphasised that he wants to create an open and inviting environment for students, which means treating them like the young adults they are and being the role model they deserve. Bessey said he is aware he will make mistakes, especially in his first two years of teaching. Due to this, it is important to him that his students see they are learning from each other, as well as the teacher in the class.
“One of the biggest takeaways from college [is] I’m now realizing how much I don’t know. The important part, Professor Kambutu said, [is that] we need to be knowledge hogs,” said Bessey. “What we need to do is when we are faced with a situation where a student comes up with a question we don’t know about, the most appropriate thing we can do is say ‘we don’t know’. [The] next day, you come back with the information and teach it to your class.”
Bessey plans on graduating in the spring of 2021 after a semester of student teaching, hopefully in Lander. Upon graduating from college, he hopes to find a teaching job wherever he can find one, whether it means staying in state or exploring options outside of Wyoming.
