After graduating from Horizon High School in 2013, Mariah Butcher took a couple years off to volunteer with an organization that catered to kids in 6th-12th grade. That experience solidified her desire to teach. She says, “attending a big university seemed daunting, so I chose PVCC because it was inviting, inclusive, and safe.”
Mariah says she felt empowered and welcomed at PVCC. She was not worried about being left behind, or not being seen, or not making it to graduation. Mariah recalls the impact being a part of Festival of Tales had. She says, “promoting literacy for all ages, and to families I now serve in my current job, is so important. We have a job as community members to support each other. That event was proof that it works; we can come together to affect change because change in the smallest form is still change. I have students at my current school who have attended the event and still have the books that they brag about. For some of them, it's one of the few items that they can call their own.”
Mariah credits several teachers at PVCC for her success. She says, “Meggin Kirk was one of the most influential instructors at PVCC. She ignited a drive I had all along. She helped me stay the course when I was going through some personal stuff and she also helped me find my teacher's voice. Her charisma and her passion for teaching is contagious. Diane Stryk was another memorable teacher. Mariah says, “she was actually my 8th grade math teacher at Explorer Middle School and remembered me. She taught my math course specifically for education, talk about full circle! Her warm spirit was exactly what I needed to finish my Associates Degree.” Lastly, Mariah appreciated her English 101 and 102 teacher, Lawrence Kraft, for his blunt, yet constructive feedback on her essays. She says, “I hadn’t written in so long, so he really challenged me to be better. Now I teach my 6th grade students the tools he taught me in writing.”
When asked how she would describe PVCC to others, Mariah stated, “harmonious.” She says this because, “we are all learning at different levels and paces, but it works. Some people are at PVCC on scholarship for sports, while others are pursuing a career as fire fighters or nurses. Everyone has a groove that feels like more than high school, but not impersonal like it can feel at large universities. I had classes with all sorts of people that had roles outside of being a student. We still studied together, laughed together, and graduated together.”
After leaving PVCC, Mariah transferred to Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus. She was a part of the Transfer Honor Society and graduated summa cum laude from the College of Education two years later in 2019. She then moved back to Phoenix and took a teaching position in Paradise Valley Unified School District. She has been teaching at Palomino Intermediate School for three years.