Margaret Thompson - contributed

It was never a secret that Margaret Thompson would grow up to become a teacher.

From a very tender age, adults around her would often make this remark after seeing her administer discipline to plants that failed to obey the teacher or even witnessing her help a piece of furniture with homework. She made 'playing school,' a realistic experience.

Now, Thompson is all grown up, with a husband, a teacher, and five children. And, not that there were any doubts, she is still in the classroom.

Only, this time it is a real one at the Godfrey Stewart High School in Westmoreland where she has been teaching for the last 14 years.

No regrets

"For the last 14 years I have been a social studies teacher at the school (Godfrey Stewart) and there is never a year that I regret entering the profession," she told The Star. "With each year that passes I get excited, just thinking about the upcoming one."

Thompson said her genuine love for children is what fuels her to continue offering herself as a teacher through the years. She believes that the teacher possesses the ability to positively mould the nation's young minds and have them become responsible and socially acceptable adults.

Thompson, who is currently the acting head of the social studies department at her school, says when not tutoring her subject, she enjoys working with students involved in the debating club, drama club, speech club and the quiz club.

Outside of the classroom, Thompson still remains actively involved in teaching in the children's department of her Savanna-la-Mar Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church.

According to the teacher, be it the classroom or the pews, the opportunity to touch the mind of a youngster is too tempting to resist. Making a positive difference in their lives is her mandate as noted that a success for them is a success for her.