Joet Lovelace is hooked on teaching - Determined to stick with job despite challenges

While her peers at Edwin Allen High School in Clarendon were keen on pursuing a career in the corporate world, Joet Lovelace had her eyes set on becoming a teacher.

Today, she is living her dream and although at least 600 teachers are singing a song of Exodus out of the classrooms, Lovelace is anticipating the reunion with her students at Mona High School in St Andrew on Monday.

"I am very excited to start the new school year and my colleagues will tell you how excited I am. I love my job and I am excited to see my students and know that I have an opportunity to teach and leave a positive impact on them. Teaching is just my passion. I know that it doesn't pay a lot but I love it," she said.

After completing her studies at Shorthood Teachers' College in St Andrew in 2013, Lovelace was unable to gain employment within her field for approximately a year as there was little demand for teachers.

"I remember I wrote 50 application letters which I sent to different schools. I walked to high schools and asked if they were taking on anybody but there were no vacancies. I felt lost. I felt like I should have done something else but knew within myself that something must be out there for me so I never gave up," she said.

Lovelace, now 30, later secured her first job at Aabuthnott Gallimore High School in St Ann as a religious education teacher.

"I lived in Kingston and it was a four-month job but I needed the money. So I applied for the job and got through and I lived on the cottage. I kept wondering what I was going to do after the four months, and then I saw a newspaper advertisement that Mona High School needed a teacher and I applied for the position, even though I did really well at Aabuthnott and the principal wanted me to stay. I lived in Kingston so I preferred to take up the job at Mona High School," she said.

Since gaining employment at Mona High, Lovelace has assisted her students in excelling at social studies, geography and religious education.

"It has been exceptional. I received a lot of awards. Teaching the students at the CXC level, I received the [award for] most impressive new teacher, best form teacher, etc. I have been on several committees, I have started a club and I am now a senior teacher and grade coordinator," she said.

"My students are my priority as they need their teachers. To be honest, teaching is not just being in the classrooms and writing with a marker. As a teacher, you wear many hats, including that of a mother, father, doctor, counsellor, etc. In these times, the students are stressed as we are coming out of a pandemic, so they need good teachers to allow them to feel a sense of belonging," she added.