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Kimberly Spears is the Ready, Set, Teach teacher at Orangefield High School.

She has been in the education field for 19 years and has been a teacher at Orangefield High School for 16 years.

“Miss Farmer,” as she was known in 2007, was asked to teach a class to Orangefield High School students that would introduce them to the world of education.

The class would be called, “Ready, Set, Teach.”

Pictured are Ready, Set, Teach students who went through the program and are now educators and coworkers at Orangefield ISD. As Spears recently looked at the picture, she reflected on how she had some of these students before she was married, had kids or basically a life.

She has former students who have become educators, teaching in local districts of Bridge City and Little Cypress Mauriceville and as far away as New Caney and Dayton.

Her task of introducing her students to the world of being an educator is difficult but rewarding.

Statistically, the Navy Seal dropout rate is between 70 and 80 percent. The dropout rate of teachers in Texas is similar to that of Navy Seals.

By the end of a teacher’s second year, 50 percent have quit the profession, by year 5, 80 percent of Texas teachers wash out of education.

As an educator, you have to perform each and every day. This is what Spears’ mission has been for the past 15 years, to teach high school students that education is a calling and it’s not for everybody. But for those that are called to teach, this is how you do it.

Spears states it is so rewarding to see her former students come back to the community to teach and support the future of Orangefield.

She was there as a support for her students in high school and now is a patronage for her former students as coworkers.