After earning her degree in accounting, Jessica Schrum never thought she would be teaching birth control to high school students.

But that is exactly what happened when former Maize High School Business teacher Jessica Schrum transitioned into her first year at Maize South High School, taking on a new role as a Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) teacher. The inspiration of this transition to switch schools and subjects came directly from her fellow FACS colleagues.

“I needed a change. Several FACS teachers encouraged me to apply for the position because I had internship experience and so I applied,” Schrum said.

Maize South High School welcomed Schrum as a new teacher to their building. FACS teacher Kacie Dix expressed how delighted she was with Schrum bringing the business perspective into the FACS environment at Maize South High School.

“I love that she sees so many of the topics in the FACS department through the lens of her experience in business. She definitely has changed the way I think about things, and I’m sure that has changed the way she presents topics and lessons to her students as well,” Dix said.

Not only did Schrum have to encounter the challenge of a new subject and content, but she also had to get used to the new administrators, new students, and new colleagues.

Maize South High School junior Marisol Triana spoke about how much the MSHS students respect Schrum.

“MSHS students have a lot of respect for her, except when she wears red,” Triana joked.

Triana expressed many of the important lessons that she learned from Schrum.

“Schrum taught me along with other students how much leadership that someone has to have in the business world, but it also takes a lot of leadership to raise a family.”

Schrum knew what she was getting into when applying for the position, but if she could give a piece of advice to other teachers making a similar transition she would tell them to do their research and take it easy on themselves.

“I would say give yourself grace! I wanted everything to be perfect the first time I taught these new courses, which is impossible. It just takes time to perfect your lessons,” Schrum said. “ I have made so many changes this semester, and I will continue to make more before next year. That’s just how teaching goes.”