Eighth grade science teacher Jennifer Sauer of Rollings Middle School of the Arts was named Dorchester District 2 Teacher of the Year for the 2006-2007 academic year.
Sauer is pursuing her master’s degree in elementary education administration and supervision at CSU.Sauer credits Charleston Southern University with pushing her down the road to personal redemption and success.
“Watching me struggle through my youth, the last thing one would have thought was that I’d become a teacher,” said Sauer. “One teacher in high school told me the only future I had was jail.”
In early April of her senior year, she dropped out of high school. In October, she found out she was pregnant.
“In the spring, a few months before my son was to be born, I got a phone call from Baptist College (now Charleston Southern University) asking me to attend school there. I was sure they had the wrong number, but they insisted that I was the person for whom they were looking. They offered me grants and help in scheduling an appointment to take my GED,” said Sauer. “It took me years to realize that the way I got into college was unusual. I finally reasoned that someone in my miserable high school experience recognized my potential and must have pulled some strings at Baptist College. I will be eternally grateful to this person.”
After her freshman year at Charleston Southern, however, she transferred to College of Charleston. “I still had issues with authority, with my attitude, and with forgiving God,” said Sauer.
Sauer earned her bachelor’s degree in four years while working two jobs and raising her son.
“When I was asked upon entering college what career path I would take, the only thing that felt right was becoming a teacher. All that mattered to me was that for some child, even if it was only one, I wanted to be absolutely everything my teachers had not been for me,” she said.
Since 1993, she has taught reading, math, social studies and science at Dubose Middle School in Summerville, and then pre-algebra and science at Rollings in Summerville since 1997.
When she began working at Rollings, the school was being used as a worship center on Sundays for Crossroads Community Church. She would go in to work and hear the congregation singing and pastor Peppy DuTart preaching. She also witnessed “Pastor Peppy” speaking at an eighth-grade career day and was impressed by his genuineness. Sauer decided to start attending church again and resolved to bring her husband and son with her.
“I needed to grow up, and God played a major role in that,” said Sauer. “I needed to be broken and use my past experiences to help kids later.”
Sauer believes that each student needs to hear a different message because they all come from different pasts and face different futures. “However,” said Sauer, “If I have to put it in general terms, I would tell them: I forgive their mistakes and they should forgive themselves, too. Use mistakes as a life-learning tool, because our pasts do not have to dictate our futures. Most importantly, I want them all to leave me knowing that I believe in them and I know they have the power to achieve.”