TBird Teacher Feature:Born and raised in Thunderbird Country, Mrs. Cassie Lauer grew up between Hatton and Auxvasse. She attended Hatton in grades K-5 and Auxvasse in grades 6-8. She graduated from NCHS in 1993. Her grandfather was on the school board and both parents were NCHS graduates! Mrs. Lauer’s two children attend schools in the district and her husband teaches at Williamsburg Elementary. You could say Mrs. Lauer bleeds GREEN all the way! When asked when she first knew she wanted to be a teacher Mrs. Lauer stated, “I was in college majoring in Accounting when I started tutoring academic probation students and football players in College Algebra and Business Calculus. There was one particular football player that I tutored, he was so excited because he had done well on a test that he came to my dorm room after class and picked me up and hugged me. I was sold on helping people learn math.” There were many people in her life that influenced her teaching decision along the way. This is what Mrs. Lauer had to say about that, ” I really just had to find out for myself. When I was in high school I was babysitting the superintendent’s (Tom Howard) children on occasion, at one point he was telling me a story about when he was a social studies teacher and he told me he thought I should be a teacher. I also remember when I returned to North Callaway to teach, my Biology teacher (Dr. Haskins) had thought I would be a teacher too, but she thought I would teach science. I think it was a million little things that many people in my life influenced, they all did a great job of steering me in the right direction. I think that is one thing that makes a great teacher is creating experiences that lead them in the right direction, but allowing them to fail, creating an environment where it is okay to do this, and guiding them to learn from their failures which will eventually lead to success. I had a lot of people in my life, my parents, my teachers, and other adults, that did that for me.” What does Mrs. Lauer look forward to working with NCHS students? She says, ” I love the students at North Callaway. They are funny and great to work with. I am always trying new things and they are always excited to try them with me.” Something you might not know about Mrs. Lauer is that math (the subject she teaches now) was a struggle for her. This is what she had to say about that, “Math was a struggle for me when I was young, so I get what my students are going through when they are struggling. At some point in high school, math just started clicking and I have loved it ever since.” An interesting fact about Mrs. Lauer is that she eats pizza from the top down! How does a born and raised TBird describe what Thunderbird Proud means to her? Her answer, “My Thunderbird Pride shines the most when graduates come back and visit and I get to see what their entire education experience at North Callaway did to help them be successful.” You can see why when asked to describe herself in one word, Mrs. Lauer chose “happy”. A Thunderbird through and through!! When you see Mrs. Lauer, give her a BIG NCHS HIGH FIVE! #ThunderbirdProud