HIGH POINT, N.C. — The first day of school is a week away and teachers have been preparing their classrooms since the beginning of the month.

Although there are 5,000 teacher vacancies, there are still teachers in the state that are kicking off their teaching career in North Carolina. 

Lydia Newnum says relying on other teachers in the building has been a big relief. 

“It definitely takes a village of people to do things together, because if I don’t know something, the odds are someone else does, especially as a new teacher. Like other people know way more than you do,” Newnum said. 

Newnum will be a third-grade teacher at Southwest Elementary School this school year, and says her main goal is to get her classroom looking the way it should. 

She’s excited to meet her students and get to know them, but she’s also nervous about forming those same bonds with their parents. 

“My goals for them is to understand that I want their students to succeed. And I just hope that my vision of success and their vision of success kind of coincide, and they can support each other,” she said.

She plans on updating parents on their students’ accomplishments, whether that’s academic or behavioral behavior or even self-motivation too.

Newnum says third grade is a foundational year, especially when it comes to math skills like multiplication.

She says, like many kids, she’s had her own struggles with multiplication tests

“As a third grader, it was hard for me. Um, maybe that’s why I have such a heart for this grade level right now, because I struggle and so I understand the frustration that it can cause. But, once I got it and I understood it, I loved it. And I was ready for those timed multiplication tests.”

She’s says teaching is her dream job.

“I’ve been called by the Lord to do this for a long time. I just didn’t know that it would be teaching, I guess. But yeah, I feel very happy, and content and I feel like this is where I belong,” Newnum said.