Dec. 12, 2018

Yarbrough following dream to teach, moves into full-time position early

By Grace Niemeyer, communication assistant

Madison Yarbrough

As a kindergartener, Madison Yarbrough dreamed of becoming a teacher, and her experience at Northwest Missouri State University has helped fulfill that dream.

“I have always wanted to be a teacher, and my love for the field has grown every year I have lived this beautiful life,” Yarbrough said. “Teachers have such a unique position in the lives of children and making this world of ours a better and safer place, and that is all that I could ever wish to do.”

Yarbrough, who will graduate from Northwest this month with her bachelor’s degree in elementary education, was a student teacher this fall at Lewis Elementary School in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. While student teaching, Orrick Elementary School Principal Angela Bright called her with an immediate full-time teaching position. Yarbrough accepted and started teaching fourth grade at Orrick Elementary in November.

“I love knowing that I have given a student knowledge about something that they’ve never known before,” Yarbrough said. “There’s a special key in being able to teach a child and that is getting to know them as a person. My favorite part has been getting to know the hearts and minds of my learners and having the honor to teach those that never liked to learn in the beginning.”

Since 1906, the Horace Mann Laboratory School has been a hallmark of Northwest and its teacher training program, providing an on-campus clinical teaching environment for University students while serving local children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The mission of Northwest’s School of Education centers on the preparation of effective teachers and leaders to apply best practices to positively impact learning. 

Yarbrough says Northwest prepared her with events such as the Education Expo and Mock Interview Day. She said her coursework presented her the opportunity to begin her career slightly earlier than others and raised her confidence.

“The professors that I have had throughout this entire campus, but especially in Brown Hall, have made such an impact on building me up to be the teacher that they knew I could be,” Yarbrough said. “Having experience with students before student teaching is truly a gift because it gives such insight on what we will be doing as teachers as well as having that student-teacher interaction.”

During her time at Northwest, Yarbrough was involved with Sigma Kappa sorority. Additionally, she participated in Alternative Spring Break, Student Activities Council and was a member of Northwest Dance Company.

“Northwest creates leaders and believers and that’s the most any soon-to-be graduate can hope for,” Yarbrough said.