BY GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer
Mrs. Kereen Tatham-Maye giving instructions to students in her computer class in the laboratory at Bethlehem Moravian College recently. - GEORGE HENRY
MALVERN, St. Elizabeth
KEREEN TATHAM-MAYE is a young teacher who now lectures at her alma mater, Bethlehem Moravian College in St. Elizabeth.
She has been teaching for more than five years; two and a half years at the college, and she did a stint at the New Hope and Salem primary and junior high schools in Westmoreland.
She wanted to become an accountant but all that changed when she did pre-trained teacher work at New Hope and Salem. She became attached to children and so she decided to enroll at the Bethlehem Moravian College after leaving Hampton High.
A daughter of Black River, she said when she started teaching as a young girl who had just left Hampton High School, it was very challenging. However, her trust in God and the assistance given by one whom she described as a 'nice' teacher, Rohan Maye, who eventually became her husband, helped her to get a good start in teaching.
"The pre-trained experience really changed my whole perspective and I realise that I am here to serve as a teacher and I think that this is my calling," said the young teacher.
The ambitious teacher said, despite the opportunity given by one of her past principals to fill in for a teacher who was on vacation while she [Mrs. Tatham-Maye] was in pre-training, she opted to go to teachers' college to be trained.
She said she left the school prematurely and got enrolled at the place she currently works as an assistant lecturer in computer studies.
When she was through with her training at Bethlehem, she told her roommates she was going to apply to the college for a job.
"I love teaching at this level, I love my job and I just love the whole situation," said Tatham-Maye, who was also offered a job at Hampton High after graduating from college.
RESPECT
As a young teacher who instructs students of varying ages, she says she tries to ensure that her students are respected at all times.
Mrs. Tatham-Maye told THE STAR she always sees herself spending a long time in the classroom. She wants to get a PhD. in computer technology and become an education officer.
She would like persons who might be thinking of entering the teaching profession to remember that the remuneration might be small, but a life that is fully lived is one which is full of service.
"Teaching offers you that opportunity to serve the nation. The value of teaching is not in the pay, it is in the quality of work of the students at the end of the day. There is nothing as rewarding to a teacher than to see his or her students graduating from institutions and coming back to say thanks," said Mrs. Tatham-Maye.
Although admitting that satisfaction cannot be taken to the supermarket, she said service will pay off in the long run.
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