It is already September, folks, so I need to put some first things first for fall: Back to school.

(Cue Adam Sandler from “Happy Gilmore.”)

In case you didn’t know, I am a teacher as my day job. For the last twelve years, I have taught middle and high school English and social studies all across northern Minnesota. It’s been a great gig, one I never expected. When I enrolled at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the assumption was that there would be a teacher surplus, so jobs would be scarce and the competition for them would be strong. I had planned, then, that I would substitute teach after graduation to whittle down some of my student debt before I applied to the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism to get my masters and become the journalist I always dreamed I would be. 

But then I got a job. And then another. Then one more. That dream of being a journalist was deferred tine and time again…and that is OK. I do have (official as of August 23rd) my master in communications, and I get to be your personal journalist through lifestyle and wedding photography, so I am getting the best of both worlds right now. 

I am also getting to cross one more goal off my teaching to-do list: I am teaching eighth grade geography this year. The whole inspiration for teaching came from my seventh and eighth grade years where I had two amazing teachers who worked in tandem and team-taught their respective contents (can you guess which classes? Yup, English and social studies). I am honored to follow in Mrs. Hall’s footsteps and inspire a new inspire the next generation to see the world and help them know their role in it.

What big things await you in September?

Kayla Lee is a Minnesota-based wedding and elopement photographer who provides services to elegant, authentic, sentimental couples who not only choose their own adventures, but also live them to the fullest.