Last week, the Leadership Selma-Dallas County class attended Education Day.

Apart from the excitement that we might have been part of Pizza Day – remember those amazing rectangle pizzas – it was nice to be in a setting that I was accustomed to being in.

Besides being the editor for The Selma Times-Journal, I am also the education reporter.

Becoming an education reporter was not something I sought out to be. At my first job, it was always taken care of by somebody else. I was not thrown into the world of covering education until my time in Jackson County, where I covered both Scottsboro City Schools and Jackson County Schools.

It also was something I surprisingly loved covering, and that was brought over to this job as well.

I come from a family of educators.

My mom has taught in the Fayette County School System for as long as I can remember, my aunt has been part of the Lauderdale County School system now currently the assistant principal at Rogers School and my cousin was my English teacher for five years throughout junior high and high school.

Throughout the years, I had always heard the terms they would use in conversation such as Title I, test scores and progress reports. I never really knew what they were talking about and the impact some of these things had on a system until I began covering education.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to Education Day and what it had to offer.

We began our day at R.B. Hudson Middle School learning about the upcoming Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) Academy that is in the works for the middle school.

From there, we visited the School of Discovery, which blew me away.

I went to a very small 1A school in Fayette County. We barely had a band or any other type of interesting extracurricular activities that these students at School of Discovery are fortunate to have.

I was impressed by how students so young were so enthusiastic about learning. They were very well spoken, and were engaged in their school.

I can safely say I was polar opposite when I was that age. I was just happy to scrape by with passing grades.

I hope that the School of Discovery students know how lucky they are to be in a setting that offers them so many different classes to help them pursue their interests for a future career.

From there, we traveled to Southside School, which is part of the Dallas County School system.

The amount of pride that the ambassadors have in their school is impressive, and again, they are excited about learning and being the best they can be.

When we asked them about what we could do as a community to help them be better, the students responded with answers such as spending time with them and being mentors and an encouragement to them.

That makes sense.

I never had mentors growing up. I just stumbled along without guidance, and the fact that these students know what they need to be successful was flooring.

This visit across the school systems was just a reinforcement that you are never done learning and growing in your knowledge of how things are.