COPPERAS COVE, Texas — Almost everyone has heard the saying, 'if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.' For two former veterans turned Copperas Cove ISD teachers, that saying is true.
“It's been exciting. But at the same time I will call it gratifying,” said Michael Veal, Veteran turned Crossroads High School teacher. “Teaching is gratifying.”
He’s the CT and recovery teacher at the school, and focuses on teaching his students life skills and puts an emphasis on character.
Veal is going into his fourth year teaching at Crossroads High School, a job he calls a privilege.
“There's nothing more than I can ask for now, for my fourth year here, at Crossroads High School able to be on a platform, to advise, inspire, motivate, teach you, our youth,” Veal said.
Prior to serving our students, he served our country in the army for nearly a decade.
“I was in Schweinfurt, Germany till 1997 until I got orders to move me to Fort Hood.”
Veal has been all over the world and most recently worked as a car salesman. That was until he got a much needed call from a friend
“The words went like this. 'Hey, didn't you say you wanted to teach?'” Veal explained.
The phone call came from Melvin Holiday, a 31 year army veteran turned 11-year veteran teacher.
Holiday teaches sixth to 12th grade history at Crossroads High School. Like Veal, Holiday has been all over the world, from Louisiana to Germany.
“I came to Fort Hood as an infantryman, and then I deployed to Desert Shield... Desert Storm.”
The two have known each other for 21 years, and were even military recruiters at one point.
“I didn't know at the time, but it gave me the skills that I needed to do the job that I'm doing right now,” Holiday said.
He says it's a job he loves. Holiday also says he went into teaching to inspire others.
“Since I came from a pretty socio-economically challenged background, I wanted to give something back to the kids and aspirations with the kids."
“I think in this state or the position that I'm in, I can be that modeled character,” said Veal.
Both veterans turned teachers have the same mission: to help their students successfully complete their mission.
“So is whatever success looks like to them. I hope I can get them to that finish line,” Veal said.
Both men also acknowledge that more male teachers are needed in classrooms. They say having a positive role model that students can look up to goes a long way in preparing students for what's to come in the next stages of their lives.
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