KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — For our next News19 Teacher of the Week, we went to history class with Phillip St. Pierre at Leslie M Stover Middle School.
St. Pierre makes his class unique because he is using his first-hand accounts in the military to make his students understand our history.
"I try to give them real life examples and scenarios at their level that they will be able to understand. And it happens. It's around the world," says St. Pierre.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, St. Pierre moved to Tennessee in 1988 and joined the military in 2001. During his time in the US Army, St. Pierre served in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Korea among other places.
"After I retired the military, what am I going to do? I decided to go back to school because I was always teaching the whole time. And I thought, well, this is best way to give back to the community and teach fellow students," St. Pierre says.
He settled in the Midlands with his wife and two children where he became a Drill Sergeant at Fort Jackson for three years.
"I think I've found what I wanted to do. So, this is what I want to do, teach," says St. Pierre
With a little push from his wife, who has been an educator for 8 years, St. Pierre decided to transition into teaching middle school. He's been working at Leslie M Stover in Kershaw County for the past two years. He's also a football coach at Lower Richland High School in Richland District One.
"I love history:, says St. Pierre. "I love especially conflicts and stuff like that. That's why I enjoy it. I know a lot about it, and I can react to it and explain it in modern times. That way they can understand as well."
Don't let his military background fool you, he makes learning social studies easy for his students like Addison.
"It's very easy to understand, because we've been working on it for a week or two. So it's easy to test. It's easy to do assignments, and he just makes it a lot more easy," says Addison.
"Mr. St. Pierre is a really nice teacher. He's one of my favorite teachers in eighth grade. And he's very loving and patient with the students," says Skylar, a student at Leslie M Stover Middle School.
His message for students is to understand our history and how it ties to South Carolina.
"They grasp the idea of where we came from, and where we stand, and all the history that's happened in the years and how we ended up now," says St. Pierre.
"He tells us interesting facts," says Amani, a student at Leslie M Stover Middle School. "And if we forget, he'll still, like, bring them up. So we get warmed up and still, like, remember them."
If you know a teacher like Phillip St Pierre who deserves to be recognized for their hard work in the classroom, you can nominate them by emailing us at TOW@WLTX.COM. Tell us what that educator is doing every day to go above and beyond in the classroom.
