Everybody has a dream, but few get to live out that dream. For Baylor senior Kelly Hoover, the opportunity to dance as apart of Baylor’s spirit squad is a dream come true.
Hoover, a secondary social studies education major in Baylor’s School of Education, said she has been living out her dream since she started three years ago as one of Baylor’s songleaders.
“I cried my first game in the field, Hoover said. “I was just so grateful to be there and to be able to be apart of such an amazing experience.
That amazing experience is only a part of Hoover’s Baylor experience. Originally from Flower Mound, Hoover always knew she wanted to grow up and be a teacher someday, and Baylor’s School of Education has helped her come one step closer to that goal.
“I feel like the opportunities here are great, especially with my major, because we are in the classroom as freshman,” Hoover said. “Being here I have grown so much in my faith and as a person, and I have had a discovering experience of who I am.”
Since coming to Baylor, Hoover has assisted and student-taught in an array of settings and classrooms. For her, the opportunity to share with her students their accomplishments and to see them thrive has been an integral part of the amazing experience of teaching.
Hoover enjoys combining her love of teaching and dance into one. Not only is she a teaching intern at Midway Middle School in an eighth-grade history class, she also has taught dance to middle and high school students at Diamond Athletics.
“Honestly, I also learned a lot of classroom management from my dance classes I teach,” Hoover said. “Making them stay on task, managing the different kids when they get unruly, productive transitions — these are all skills I’m better at in the classroom because of teaching dance.”
Dancing, teaching and finding everlasting relationships —those are the experiences Hoover has found here at Baylor, and she feels well equipped to face the world and be a shining light in her classroom.
“The biggest reason why I want to teach is to inspire my kids,” Hoover said. “I love the relational part of teaching and being able to be a role model for my kids.”
—By Taliyah Clark
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