In our Halls of Troy, a Trojan superstar, McCall Beall, a popular band drummer and sports star has risen above her duties as a Trojan student and now has discovered her path to becoming a Trojan teacher.
Just a few weeks ago, on October 20th, she had acquired the staggeringly rare opportunity to meet Dr. Tiffany Anderson, the superintendent of USD 501 School District, and received an astonishing offer of an “Intent-To-Hire” letter.
Beall exemplifies the contextualization leading to this momentous event: “So after the honor roll assembly, another school board member that I knew came up to me and asked me what my plans were after high school or college, and I expressed to her I planned to become a teacher and come back to teach music. She then pulled Dr. Anderson over [and] talked to her, [whom] I know because I’ve served on four superintendents advisory committees last year.”
Interestingly, Dr. Anderson then revealed that there was a program that allowed 501 students to come in for an interview, and if they passed said interview, they could receive an “Intent-To-Hire” letter, which means the district would reserve a teaching position in the future just for that student to have a guaranteed job—Beall’s teaching career is currently scheduled to begin between 2028-2029.
After receiving this letter after all her perseverance and dedication as a Trojan student, she felt joy, but most importantly, “the best word is probably relieved because honestly, it is not common to have a secure job before you even graduate high school or college; a lot of people struggle. You know, and the job market is just kind of hot and cold. You never really know what it’s gonna be like in four years when you’re graduating college; I am relieved to have a job waiting for me after I graduate college because this is definitely a privilege.”
A privilege or not, Beall is a humble individual who cares about giving back to her family and community, as she exemplifies why she wishes to return to Topeka for her teaching career: “My family has lived in Topeka for a while; my mom was raised here, and my dad moved here as an adult. Everything and everyone I love is in Topeka, so I really do not have the desire that a lot of people have to just get out and never come back. I really love Topeka and I also want to help improve upon it, and I just love the idea that when I have kids in the future, they can go to the same schools I went to and hopefully be of students of mine when I teach here.”
McCall Beall is a devout Trojan and proud of the time she has spent in these Halls of Troy, as proven by her leadership in rigorous school sports and school musical arts, and exclaimed, “I am pretty proud. I’ve accomplished a lot; I’ve ticked off the boxes that I wanted to tick off, not that I’ve done everything. Obviously, that’s pretty not possible. But I have done what I set out to do, and I’m proud of the relationships and accomplishments that I’ve made any time of the whole time.”