Kinesiology Paths: High School Teacher/Coach

Megan James
2010 BS Clinical Kinesiology and Health Promotion, Louisiana Tech University
2015 MAT with Mathematics and Biology Concentrations, Louisiana Tech University

My name is Megan James and I am a 2010 graduate of Louisiana Tech with a BS in Clinical Kinesiology and Health Promotion and an MAT with a Mathematics and Biology Concentration in 2015. If you told me in 2006 as a freshman at Louisiana Tech that I would be working in a high school teaching math and coaching softball, I would have told you that you need to get your head evaluated. Never in a million years would I have envisioned myself where I am now. I started college in the Political Science department because I had always wanted to be a lobbyist and work in D.C. In the Spring of my freshman year, I took a KINE class as an elective and it completely changed the trajectory of my life. Once I changed my major in the fall of 2007, I had such a peace about what my future plans were and how I would get there. I finished college in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Kinesiology and Health Promotion with a plan to go to Physical Therapy School in Alabama. I started school and quickly realized that I was just not happy or ¨at home¨ so I decided to come back and apply to LSUHSC in Shreveport. Before I even had my interview at LSU, I was contacted by a local school who needed a high school math teacher. I unconfidently agreed and started teaching and have been at it ever since. Ie taught in two different parishes and a few different schools, but am currently at Doyline HIgh School in Doyline, LA.

Along the way, I had two precious baby boys who are now 10 and 6 and between work and everything they are involved in, I stay super busy. Sometimes it can be really hard balancing my work life and home life, but we make it work! My 10 year old plays basketball and golf and the younger one plays baseball. Needless to say, there is not much down time, but I would not change a thing.

Three years ago, I was approached by administration about coaching softball. I had no reservations about taking on the challenge and have developed a strong, growing program. I can honestly say that taking on the softball team is one of the best decisions I could have made. Being able to be a leader and build relationships with these teenagers outside of the classroom gives me so much pride and joy. Kids today need outlets and I love that I am able to provide that for so many of them 7th hour every day. Going from teaching Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Advanced Math (yes, I have those preps) in the morning to coaching in the afternoon is quite the change and can be really tough sometimes, but is more rewarding than you could ever imagine. I see these kids at their best and worst and am able to help them through each day whether they are on the field or not.

I look back at my college years and am so thankful for every professor who invested time, love, and energy into making me become the best me that I could be. I would not be where I am without the 07-10 KINE department. Some are still there and some have moved on to other places, but they will each hold a special place in my heart.

I guess the moral of the story is that even most laid out plans can change and while we may be unsure about how our life will be after those changes, sometimes you just have to roll with it and let life take you where it takes you. For me, it led me to a small school of 435 kids where I get to teach them about math, teach them life lessons, and hit softballs at them at the end of the day. I could not think of a more perfect way to spend each day!