GASTONIA — Courtney Carey exemplifies the impact a Catholic education can have on a community. Once a student at St. Michael School and a graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School, Carey is now completing her degree at Belmont Abbey College and teaching at her alma mater on St. Michael Lane.
“St. Michael Catholic School was my home from pre-K to eighth grade. It is where I learned math and reading, but also where I learned how to make friends, set goals and establish my own personal values and beliefs,” Carey explains.
She is now student teaching with her former fifth-grade teacher, Ruth Bernet.
“When I was asked to choose my student teaching location, I requested to return to SMCS and Mrs. Bernet because she had been my hardest teacher. She never just accepted my work, but required me to do more,” Carey recalls. “I felt she would push me to become the best possible teacher as well.”
Before Carey’s return to the school to complete her classroom observation hours in 2017-’18, Bernet had not seen her former student since she graduated from St. Michael School in 2011.
“I was delighted to see her last fall when she came to our school to observe classes for her course requirements at Belmont Abbey. Later, I was informed by my principal that she had requested to practice teach in my classroom,” Bernet says.
Bernet believes that Carey is a “natural” teacher, and that she and her students “enjoy her entertaining lessons and kind personality.”
Principal Sheila Levesque says the excitement of Carey completing her requirements there spread, with well wishes from former students and families to creating new relationships with current students and families.
“Ms. Carey has come full circle – from being a former student to now completing her student teaching requirements,” Levesque notes. “This is a testament to the amazing impact St. Michael Catholic School has on graduates and families.”
Carey will graduate with honors from Belmont Abbey College in May. She and her sister have opened a dance studio in Cramerton that values the art of dance for all levels of dancers while nurturing their self-esteem and establishing values which Carey says she learned from her time in Catholic schools.
“I learned that I have the potential and desire to teach not just dance, but academics,” Carey asserts.
“As a student, I walked through the halls full of hope, dreams and a feeling of comfort. Now, I walk through the halls as a student teacher with those same feelings, but along with a desire to create those same feelings within the students.”
Carey hopes to find a teaching position within the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools system or Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools this spring.
“I feel extremely blessed to have attended SMCS as student. My success as a person, college student, business owner, college athletic coach, student teacher and a classroom teacher is because of the support I received from my family and the program and teachers at St. Michael Catholic School,” she says.
“The school has never been just a school, but a way of life and a real family.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior Reporter
Courtney Carey, a graduate of St. Michael School in Gastonia, is now student teaching with her former fifth-grade teacher Ruth Bernet. Carey graduates from Belmont Abbey College in May and hopes to find a permanent teaching position in the area.Photo provided by Sheila Levesque