Elaina Robinson is a senior working towards a bachelor of science while majoring in General Education, focusing on grades EC-6 at West Texas A&M University. Robinson is from Amarillo and is working towards educating students.

Robinson plans to teach young children.

“I would love to teach kindergarten through second grade,” Robinson said. “That’s like my target grade that I want to teach, preferably with Canyon ISD.”

Robinson always knew she wanted to teach.

“Honestly, I don’t really know the reason that made me want to teach; I can’t tell anybody or myself, but it was just one day.,” Robinson said. “I never considered anything else other than education. It was just a matter of, ‘What do I want to teach and what grade?’ And I knew I didn’t want to teach high school or middle school because that scares me, and the students scare me. So I considered, well, ‘do I want to do music, or do I want to just do general education?’ And I decided if I wanted to do music, I would have done high school, and since I didn’t want to deal with high schoolers, I landed on elementary student teaching.”

Teachers support students by educating them through all aspects of life.

“I think the importance of teaching is self-explanatory,” Robinson said. “Teaching kids, I mean, that’s their education, that [Teaching] is what makes their life in this world possible, and so without education, we don’t really have a functioning society. So it’s just educating the next generation.”

Robinson was inspired to teach due to her enjoying learning.

“I love learning so much, and like school is my thing, I just want to translate my love for learning to others,” Robinson said.

One thing Robinson likes about her degree is that she gets to experience a variety of classes.

“My favorite thing about my major is the wide range of subjects that we go over, like, you can’t get bored in this because it’s a well-rounded education, like we did math, science, English, history, music and PE, so it’s just such a round education,” Robinson said. “I knew I wanted a rounded education, so I like knowing things about everything.”

Once Robinson leaves WT, she has many routes she plans to follow.

“After I graduate from WT, I plan to work,” Robinson said. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to graduate school. I think maybe if I have a passion for something later on, like I have a lot of experience with a kid with autism, and I’m getting more informed right now because we have one student in my student teaching class. So graduate school might be a future route, but that would take me away from teaching since I’d become a specialist. I also don’t know if I even want to teach for very long because I want to be a stay-at-home mom eventually. But then, I mean, who knows? I might go right back to teaching once my kids are older, so all the doors are open.”

Throughout Robinson’s final semester at WT, she’s been student teaching.

“Student teaching has been a roller coaster because a lot of students do it in the spring, so the academic year is already going, but since I’m doing it now, I’ve been with the students since the first day of school, so it’s been a transition for all of us,” Robinson said. “At first, it was very exhausting, but around two weeks in, I truly began to enjoy it. I have a lot of grace because everyone acknowledges that I’m there to learn as well as to be an authority figure. Overall, it’s a reflective process, so I appreciate doing it.”

Robinson shares some advice with anyone interested in pursuing education.

“A lot of people consider education hard because there’s tests and a lot of extra stuff that you have to do, like the whole student teaching thing or PACE,” Robinson said. “So I think a lot of people might be deterred by the requirements, but I would say if it’s something that you enjoy doing, then any requirement that you have, you can figure it out. If you are capable of figuring it out, then you are going to be a great teacher.”

Robinson always knew WT was the university for her.

“So when I was younger, we moved around a lot, like I’ve lived in four states total,” Robinson said. “I was born here in Amarillo and then moved back here in sixth grade. I had always known about WT because that’s where my parents met, and so, as a kid, that was the coolest thing ever. My mom was also an RA here, so my dream as a kid was to go to WT and be an RA, so, like, I literally lived to that. So that’s one of the biggest reasons. Also, I live here, so I’m not gonna move away to go to school when it’s a university that’s so cheap and easy, and I can still live on campus and still do college things.”

Since being at WT, Robinson has been provided with many diverse opportunities.

“WT has given me a lot,” Robinson said. “I got the RA position, which was huge for my own growth. I can’t even explain how I am such a different person from my freshman year to beginning the RA job. I am a totally different person because of that, in a great, confident and authoritative way. I got to be a research assistant through my department. I went to an elementary school and looked for kids who might be in SPED because the research was at a Title I school where a lot of kids were learning English. Last year, my department chose me to represent WT at a convention in Atlanta, Georgia, so that was a huge experience, especially since I was recommended by professors to go. I also went to Costa Rica with the WT choir, which is a big deal because in Texas, only two college choirs were chosen, and WT was one of them. I also got to go to other conventions with choir, like traveling to El Paso and the Southwest ACDA conference, which was in Little Rock.”

One part of WT that Robinson enjoyed was residing in the dorms.

“I think my favorite part of WT was living on campus and being an RA,” Robinson said. “I was able to be around for everything on campus but also have independence and live on my own. I also loved being able to just walk to class.”

Around campus, Robinson was a residential assistant and is still involved in choir as well as different church organizations such as YoungLife and 13|30. Aside from academics, Robinson reads a lot but focuses on reading mystery and classic books as well as rereading her favorites.

Robinson believes it’s essential to balance all your commitments in life.

“Don’t be afraid to work,” Robinson said. “A lot of people have to pay for their own college, which is important, but also, we [The United States of America] are the hardest working country in the world because that’s what our culture pushes, so it’s okay to take time off and for yourself. A lot of people are either very extreme and stay consistently busy or don’t do anything, so find a balance between both.”