My name is Jessica Young. I am mother to two beautiful children named Hannah and Malachi. They keep me on my toes most days. I am also married to David Young, the pastor at Clinton First Church of the Nazarene in Clinton, IL. We have lived in Illinois for just over 4 years now and have grown to love and cherish the people of this community as our own family. David and I met at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, MA. My family is from MA and he is originally from VA. We married in June of 2003 and a year later moved out to Kansas City, MO for David to attend Nazarene Theological Seminary.
During that time, I started my first teaching job as a first grade teacher in Raytown, MO. I was hired 2 days before school started and still consider that first year of teaching to be one of my greatest accomplishments of my life. I taught for 3 years while my husband was in school and enjoyed it very much. My favorite parts of teaching first graders was watching them learn how to read throughout the year. I loved seeing a child come in reading at one level and then see them at a completely different level when they left my class. I also enjoyed the behavior management aspect of teaching. My school district had a behavior program that involved training and support for all sorts of classroom issues. I got to see students improve drastically in their behavior throughout the year through the schoolwide effort of multiple teachers embracing their needs.
When we moved out here I was a few months pregnant with my daughter and we decided I would stay home with our kids until they were a little bit older. I miss teaching in a classroom but watching my kids grow through infant and toddler years is rewarding. I consider it my own little bit of research into childhood growth and development.
The past few years I have been teaching the 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School (this past year we combined and made it 3rd-6th grade) and last year I took on some responsibility for Children's Church. I've learned that just because you have an Elementary degree does not mean you are equipped for kid ministry. It is different from an every day school setting. I hope to continue to learn and develop new skills for teaching kids in a church setting.
