Home is Where the Heart Is

Home is where the Heart Is

MacKenzie Sniezek comes from a world of teaching. Her mom is a teacher at Sunset Hills Elementary School. Two doors down from her is one of her best friends. Both of her friend’s parents are teachers. Another teacher lives right across the street. She was also very close with all her teachers at Sunset Hills, where she attended kindergarten through 8th grade. “I would see them all the time, because of my mom,” she said. “I was always surrounded by teachers. I would always hear the point of view from the teacher.”

She loved watching her mom teach, and she loved helping her peers out. She had thought about teaching herself from an early age. While the passion and draw was there, MacKenzie still wasn’t sure as she graduated eighth grade. “I loved the lessons, I loved working with kids, it was just that I was extremely shy,” she said with not even a hint of current shyness. She was so shy when she entered high school that she didn’t think she could be a teacher at all. So what brought her out of her shell? As it turns out, simply taking a class at Shadow Ridge High School provided the opportunities to break out. “Freshman year I did absolutely nothing,” she said. “I was a shy kid. I absolutely regret it. Four years goes so fast.”

MacKenzie joined the Education Professions program at Shadow Ridge her junior year. The first year was getting to know the program, and having some opportunities to visit schools and compete at the state championship. She didn’t win anything, but she became a bit less shy and more interested in teaching. “My first year we went to a school, and I was just helping these kids out!” she exclaims with a smile brimming from ear to ear. “I just loved it. I loved working with them, talking to them. I love the younger grade honesty. They are so honest with you, and I just loved that.”

“One of my favorite memories is seeing MacKenzie lead a small group of students during a visit to Canyon Ridge School,” said Andrea Haser, Education Professions teacher at Shadow Ridge High School. “The transformation from student to teacher is exhilarating!” The first year of the program successfully introduced MacKenzie to the profession, gave her some opportunities to come out of her shell a bit, and find something she enjoyed doing.

It was that following year though that really was the turning point. “So when I went into my second year of Education Professions, it was only me and one other girl that went back the second year, because there were a lot of seniors in the class my first year.” She described a whirlwind story of how she inadvertently became the president of the Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) Club, Educators Rising. MacKenzie credits that role and involvement as what really brought her out of her shell completely. It forced her into a leadership role and required her to get used to talking in front of people.

"CTSOs provide leadership opportunities on campus as a student run organization embedded in CTE classes,” said Haser. “CTSOs are student led, meaning students hold the power to make decisions on events, fundraisers, and outreach ideas. As chapter president, MacKenzie led each meeting and modeled servant leadership by participating in every extra opportunity the organization offered. One of the highlights of MacKenzie as chapter president was when she received her own gavel at officer training!”

Another aspect of the Education Professions program that really forced MacKenzie out from her shyness were the competitions. MacKenzie did the extraordinary her senior year by qualifying for nationals in both her individual and team event. The individual event required her to plan and teach a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lesson to an elementary classroom while her group event focused on examining an ethical dilemma about a situation involving student athletes. Qualifying for nationals was a goal that MacKenzie set for herself and her team. She achieved 5th place in the STEM lesson planning category and 3rd place in the team event.

Unfortunately, a week after the state competition where she qualified for nationals, COVID-19 hit. “I kept practicing and practicing, but it never happened,” she said with a disheartened look. “While we were devastated at the cancellation of nationals, qualifying for this event was still a tremendous honor,” Haser said.

MacKenzie Sniezek poses with a 5th place certificate at the Arizona state competition last March, earning her a place at nationals.

MacKenzie graduated in 2020 during the pandemic and promptly enrolled in Rio Salado College for Elementary Education. Her two years in the Education Professions program at Shadow Ridge successfully did away with her shyness and helped her to find her passion. “I would recommend it a thousand [percent], because I thought I wanted to be a teacher, but when I experienced it, I loved it,” she said. “That’s how it kept me going and interested. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be doing this now. I would be sitting at home doing my prerequisite work trying to figure out my life.”

This is where MacKenzie’s story comes full circle. MacKenzie needed a job, preferably in education while she went to school. Her mom started her teaching career as a paraprofessional, or teacher aide. So MacKenzie applied to the Dysart Unified School District for a paraprofessional position, and as fate would have it, found a spot available at Sunset Hills. “I grew up at this school. I love this school, so I came here,” she said.

A lot of the teachers MacKenzie had when she was growing up still work there, so it’s still a bit different for her. “It’s weird walking down the hall and seeing my music teacher that taught me from kindergarten to 8th grade and that was such a big part of my life, and I’m like, Hi Mr. B!”

When MacKenzie graduates, she plans to be a teacher in the Dysart Unified School District, and maybe even Sunset Hills. She doesn’t have an idea of grade level yet, but it’s more about the students than the grade to her. “If you don’t love the students, if you don’t love working with kids, then you’re not going to be a good teacher,” she said. “And I honestly believe that.”

MacKenzie credits her potential future as a teacher with that Career and Technical Education class in high school and the experience and opportunity it gave her. “I think if there are more programs where students get to experience what the job actually is, and kids actually get to see what it looks like, I think it’s going to open their eyes, it’s going to help them find their path,” she said. “Because it is hard to find your path in four years.”

"CTE classes require 51% of class time to be spent in the lab,” said Haser. “For a teaching class, this means working with students and planning and teaching lessons. Teaching is so much more than book knowledge, and giving students the opportunity to interact with students in the K-12 classroom is key to preparing them for a future career as a paraprofessional and teacher.”

That hands-on approach has allowed MacKenzie to develop a true love of the profession, one where she does it for the kids and the betterment of others, over anything else.

“I believe teaching is about the students,” she says definitively. “And to be completely honest, since I’ve been here, I could care less about what I earn. I care about the students, their health and their happiness. I love when I get the kid to smile, or I get this project right and they are so happy. I’d rather have that than anything else.”

Spoken like a true teacher.