As the number of aspiring teachers continues to decline, the purpose and motivation of joining a high school teaching staff may become questionable. However, new math intern Trevor Smith has no questions regarding his career aspirations.

As an assistant to geometry teacher Donald Gornto, he hopes to obtain a future teaching job after graduating from the Florida Institute of Technology.

“This helps me learn how to be an effective teacher,” Smith said. “My mentor teacher, Mr. Gornto, seems very experienced and very passionate about what he’s doing. I see that in his eyes and I see that in his relationship with his students, and that’s what makes it special for me and also helps me learn what students enjoy and expect from a teacher.”

Smith said he hopes to change the lives of a multitude of students in the future.

“I want to help students prepare to become adults right out of high school,” Smith said. “From what I’ve experienced in high school, we get pushed to go to college and that’s it. I want to teach students adult skills. I really want to teach them how to do taxes, I want to teach them how to open up a checkbook, and stuff like that. So I want to give them some tips, some skills that they can use right out of high school because too often they may expect to go to college, but they don’t. They may go to the military or they may sit at home and they may not know the options they have available to them once they graduate.”

Gornto said such internships are beneficial in helping people make important decisions regarding their future careers.

“When you’re a student, you see one aspect of teaching,” Gornto said. “By [Smith] seeing how a teacher does the planning, it gives him a different perspective of teaching and so it lets him know ‘Is this something I really want to do?’”

In addition to the new intern in the math department, the guidance department has provided Emory Carr an opportunity to assist in the office.

“I meet with students and parents to discuss their schedules and any academic questions,” Carr said. “I provide individual counseling to students as needed, collaborate with teachers and staff, teach classroom and guidance lessons, and facilitate small group counseling to students. This internship is the last requirement of my master’s program. It is beneficial because it provides me with practical experience that I will use in my career.”