“Education is my love language because it is what I was meant to do.”
A simple sentence, but one that captures how third-year history education scholar Caleb Pack views teaching, not just as a career path, but as his calling. A calling shaped by care, patience, and purpose.
For Caleb, education has always been personal. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, he approaches learning with inquisitiveness and a joy for sharing knowledge.
“The thing that I love most is whenever I can see that they [students] understand something,” he said. “Seeing them be like, ‘Oh, I remember this,’ or, ‘Oh, well, I know about this.’ That’s my favorite part.”
With his inquisitive spirit, Caleb’s curiosity extends far beyond the classroom.
“I love learning anything I can. It doesn’t even have to do with my major. If it’s just an opportunity to learn, I love that,” he said.
He wants his future students to have that same excitement as he turns history into an experience rather than a subject.
“I plan on making up games, and I want to take kids to museums,” Caleb explained. “ I just want my classroom to be fun.”
While he plans to make lessons fun, Caleb sees teaching more as about showing up for students in every part of their lives. Raised by a mother who worked as an educator and now serves as a professor, Caleb saw early on what it meant to lead with care.
“If you’re going to be a good teacher, you should already be caring and willing to listen to students,” he said.
To him, showing up for students as they navigate life is just as important as showing up for them academically. In the small details like remembering birthdays, paying attention to students’ responsibilities outside of school, and listening to their challenges, those are all ways he believes build connections.
“Remembering even the slightest things… by listening and keeping all of that in your brain, you can show how much you care,” he said.
Caleb’s devotion to education fuels everything he does as an educator. From sparking curiosity to making interactive history lessons, his passion is evident in every detail. His approach reflects a simple truth, just as his simple sentence does, that education, at its heart, is an act of connection and support.
“Sometimes we’re mentors, sometimes we’re coaches, sometimes we’re another parent… It’s just that level of loving and caring, even the slightest bit can take you so far.”
