Even as a full-time teacher, Ayers relies on the teachers around her for support.
Reagan Ayers is in her fourth year of teaching at Northside High School. But before becoming an instructor, she sat in the same seats as her class as a Northside student.
“This community poured so much into me,” Ayers said. “It’s a gift to be able to pour back into it.”
After graduating, Ayers started at Mercer University. Soon after, she became a Northside student-teacher. During that time, she said her mentor-teachers gave her invaluable guidance.
“I feel blessed that my mentors now are the same mentors I had almost a decade ago when I was in school,” she said. “And I do believe that if people can have that rallying cry behind them, there’s no reason more people cannot succeed in this profession.”
She said a former mentor passed down classroom decor that she still has in …