Nebraska Synod ELCA

by Elysia McGill

I’ve always loved school. I loved the first day, walking into the building with a certain smell and a fresh box of crayons, and I was just ready to learn. So, it was no surprise to my family when I declared in second grade that I would be a teacher. My entire family is made up of teachers; I’m the 15th in a long line of educators ranging from special education to social studies. I proudly consider myself the black sheep because I teach elementary music. I didn’t always want to teach music. I didn’t know what I wanted to teach; I thought I would follow and teach social studies in history, which is also one of my passions.

In high school, I had an amazing vocal teacher during my freshman and sophomore years, and he asked me what I would do when I went to college. When I told him I wanted to be a teacher, he asked me if I had ever considered teaching music because he thought I had a gift for it and would be an amazing role model for kids. Honestly, I’d never thought about it, but hearing someone tell me and affirm the gifts they saw in me opened my eyes more and gave more thought to it. I was a good singer but fairly shy, so having someone tell me they saw gifts in me blew my mind.

As I enter my 21st year of teaching, and I have taught thousands of kids in my life, I realize the impact that a teacher (good or bad) can have on a young person’s life. I see kids walking in as scared kindergartners on their first school day. Walking out are confident fifth graders ready to take on the world as only a preteen can. I realize it is up to me to reaffirm the gifts that I see in my students because they might not otherwise hear it. And the gifts I see in them, someone else might not. It is up to all of us to tell those around us, young or old, the amazing gifts we see in them because they might just change their lives. 

We are all responsible for tending the good soil around us, both from nature and the people God has given us to be in our lives. Don’t wait to tell someone how much they mean to you or the good gifts you see in them. Tend to those in your life, encourage them, and help when needed. Much like farmers care for the ground that feeds us, we need to tend to those God has placed in our lives. God has given me the responsibility of tending to over 400 children yearly. Even when it is hard, I need to care for those children, encourage them, and help them grow into the people that God has created them to be.

Elysia serves as the Vice-President of the Nebraska ELCA Synod Council.