Teacher of the Week: Elisa Bowman says education chose her
Marlisa Harding
Sometimes destiny just stares you in the face. Such was the case for Elisa Bowman, a fourth grade teacher at Southwest Louisiana Charter Academy.
From a young age, her family encouraged her to become a teacher, she said. “I would sit my cousins down on the floor and teach them something new and my grandfather would always say, ‘I want you to be a teacher. I want you to be a teacher.’”
When she first entered McNeese State University, however, she chose the path of a future nurse. “It’s crazy because my parents were really shocked that I chose nursing because I’m really scared of needles. ‘I could get over it,’ I told them. ‘I could prepare myself,’” she recalled.
Pre-requisite courses quickly proved otherwise, though. “Early on, I realized that definitely wasn’t my profession,” she said laughing.
Bowman said that reality forced her to take a good look at her life up until that point. “It just hit me, ‘Elisa, you spend a lot of time in church with the youth program.’ I would take a lot of public speaking roles, lead different things and teach different routines. ‘Elisa, why didn’t you ever from the beginning pursue education? You love to teach. You love to learn new things…’”
With that clarity in mind, she decided on an early childhood education major because of her experience working with children at church and as a daycare worker. “The younger kids always appealed to me. Especially with my height,” she said laughing.
“I’m very small. Even with the younger kids, I blend in with them. So I knew, ‘No, no, I don’t want middle school kids.’”
She approached her first day of school full of nerves, she recalled. But the friendship of a helpful colleague and her faith gave her courage. “She made me feel so comfortable as we just talked about the school overall…And as I self-reflected, I knew, ‘This is the same thing you do at church and work. Look at it like that. Just relax and breathe. Take it one hour at a time.’ After that, the nerves I had prior to the first day just went away. I was truly where I was supposed to be.”
Bowman attributed her pastors at Old Emmanuel Baptist Church and her parents as her greatest influences. “My fundamentals started with my parents. They pushed me to be the person that I am. Even during the summers, they had me in extracurriculars. My mom would make sure that I would read a book every day…She always wanted me to be thinking and growing.”
Similarly, her pastor’s wife has been a source of encouragement, she said. “She would speak to me about her own past experiences and told me to go to her any time for advice.”
Surrounded by so many positive influences concerning her career choice, Bowman said, “Truly, I didn’t choose education. It seems education chose me.” When she’s not teaching, Bowman enjoys shopping, spending time with friends and family and traveling.
Elisa Bowman is a fourth-grade teacher at Southwest Louisiana Charter Academy.