GREENSBORO, N.C. — At Alderman Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina, there's a familial connection that binds together one generation of students to the next. Amber Garcia, a former student, teaches in the same classroom her grandmother, Marie Farlow, used to occupy as an assistant teacher for 25 years.
Garcia began her first year of teaching this fall, and she's still learning what it takes to survive as the leader of seventeen 1st-graders. Between loose teeth, band-aids and bouncy attention spans, Garcia's found ways to appreciate her job even more than she believed she would.
"Kids are hilarious," Garcia said, "if you just sit back and watch them you will laugh all day long. I wanted a job that I loved doing, where I could laugh and, you know, have fun. I love being around [the kids.]"
A high bar to exceed, considering Amber's life long aspirations. She set her sights on teaching back when she still attended the school as a student. Her afternoons after dismissal were often spent with her grandmother, her greatest role model, filing papers, grading homework and exploring the vacant hallways at Alderman. To be back in the same classroom is a lifelong dream.
"I can still envision where her desk used to be. I can see this room as hers, even though she's not here," Garcia said.
Farlow retired from teaching after 25 years at Alderman. She died in 2017, unable to see Amber fill her shoes. For this reason, the classroom holds special meaning for Amber.
"She was the best person, kind of a nurturer, kind of like me. She wanted to raise and teach the kids like they were her own. I think that's where I get it from," Garcia said.
She doesn't feel the need to live up to her grandmother, but she still feels her presence. "Not a moment passes" where Amber isn't influenced in some way by the lessons and teachings of her original teacher. By all accounts, Marie taught Amber well.
"She's so passionate about learning and sharing that with her students," said Shannon Gray, a kindergarten teacher at Alderman, "we have been so excited to have her back here."
Gray taught with Farlow for the better part of a decade and a half before Farlow's retirement. She watched Amber grow up, remembering her aspirations as at such a young age. Garcia was a student-teacher under Gray as well.
"You could tell she had it in her. She's a natural," Gray said.
"This has always been my goal, always been something that I wanted from my self," Garcia said, "and something that [my grandmother] wanted for me."
It's these ties that have bonded Garcia to a school that's had such a huge role in her life.
"I'm Alderman through and through," Garcia said, "and I don't really see that changing anytime soon."
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