WARSAW − Tanya Stottlemire of Warsaw fondly remembers her daughter Carlie setting up a mock classroom in their basement when she was young and playing school, always insisting on being the teacher when friends and family visited.
“She wanted to do school work at home when she was like 3 and 4. By the time she started kindergarten, she could read already,” Tanya recalled.
The River View High School senior is turning her childhood passion into a career by following her mother into education and even picking a similar online college path.
Carlie credits her mother as an inspiration, especially with Tanya returning to school in her 40s after being a stay-at-home mom to four kids.
Carlie has gained hands-on experience as a volunteer in her mother’s classroom at River View Intermediate School. This was Carlie’s senior project; a special program at River View focused on fostering leadership, responsibility and growth while students engage in community service.
Tanya praised Carlie for realizing students learn differently and planning activities with inclusiveness in mind.
“Teaching isn’t always easy, but it’s very meaningful work,” Tanya said with pride for her daughter. “I think she will make a difference in a lot of kids’ lives. She’s got the heart. She’s got the personality. I can’t wait to see what kind of teacher she becomes.”
Inspired by her mother
Carlie is the youngest of four and the only girl, with brothers Cody, Cord and Colt. Cody is a substitute teacher at River View. Tanya and her husband, Rick, are River View graduates.
After high school, Tanya worked at Longaberger before leaving her job to raise her children. She stayed home for the next 18 years, until Carlie entered kindergarten. She then volunteered as an aide, reading to students at Conesville Elementary School.
“I realized some of these kids don’t have anybody to go home to read to and work with,” Tanya said. “They had parents that were there that loved and cared about them, but maybe because of work schedules didn’t have time to work with them.”
This led Tanya to become a paraprofessional at Union Elementary for a year before working in the special education class at Warsaw Elementary School.
“I realized that’s where my heart was,” Tanya shared on then pursuing a career in education.
She’s been a teacher for five years and the teacher for the self-contained classroom at River View Intermediate for three years.
“I felt like I could make a difference. It was so nice to see when the kids learned something,” Tanya continued. “It’s not a profession you go home from…Constantly, I’m looking for things that will help them or different way to make them learn something.”
Learning by example
Tanya earned her degrees through Western Governors University, an online program. Carlie plans to pursue early childhood education through WGU, because of the flexibility in scheduling it offers.
She wants to continue working as a direct support professional for Quality Home Healthcare while taking classes. She believes it has helped set the stage for her future career.
“Seeing how she cares for her clients, I knew she would be fine in teaching. It’s different, but the heart is the same,” Tanya said. “You’re not teaching, but the compassionate part is still there.”
Carlie wants to teach first or second grade and hopes to do it at River View if the opportunity is there.
“All of the teachers I’ve come across here have been very kind and heartwarming. They don’t only care about teaching the curriculum but helping the students individually and helping them to grow and with their confidence and with stuff that will help them in their life. I want to be able to do that for other people like my teachers have done for me,” Carlie said.
And her mom has been a big part of that too.
“I’ve been able to see teaching is just not always in front of a screen pointing at different things on a board. She sits with them and shows them how to do it. Sometimes she has to show them a different way, because some students don’t learn the same as the kid beside them,” Carlie shared.
The lessons Carlie will carry into her own career from her mother are clear.
“Be patient and remember why you want to do it in the first place. Just remember, it’s because you care and you want to make a difference and a difference doesn’t happen overnight,” Carlie summarized.
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 18 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Following mom’s lead: A mother-daughter story rooted in the classroom
Reporting by Leonard L. Hayhurst, Coshocton Tribune / Coshocton Tribune
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