Before math teacher Tameka Mikesell had even made her debut in the world of teaching, she was running her own private tutoring business. She had one goal: to make a difference in students’ lives.
“I just wanted to … impact the lives of children, mostly teenagers,” Mikesell said.
While she tutored the majority of her students in Algebra II, Mikesell was willing to venture outside of her comfort zone for the benefit of her students. One, in particular, stood out to her.
“She came in Algebra I,” Mikesell said. “We just bonded so well that she wanted me to move up with her, so she would send me her resources ahead of time that she was going over, and I prepared for her. I got to see the whole gamut all the way up to calculus.”
While Mikesell now has the opportunity to make an impact on students’ lives every single day, her path to this career was anything but straightforward.
Growing up, Mikesell was told she excelled in math and should become an engineer. Because Mikesell was the first person in her family to attend college, she felt like she had to follow this guidance. After earning an engineering degree at the University of Central Florida, she worked as a civil structural engineer at Black and Veatch. Mikesell quickly realized that a career in engineering was not what she was looking for, but rather what others had thought was necessary for her to be successful.
“Working in the field requires a certain degree of creativity, and that’s not one of my strengths,” Mikesell said. “I actually didn’t get to use applied math in the way that I thought I would as part of the actual field. Also, it wasn’t a super social job, and I kind of missed that too.”
Mikesell left after two years at the company. A decade later, in 2011, she began tutoring to build a career more aligned with her personal values and goals.
After years of tutoring, Mikesell decided that she wanted to increase the number of students she taught in order to create a stronger impact on her community. In 2019, she started teaching math at Circle Christian School in Winter Park, where she could combine her desire to form student-teacher bonds with another core value: faith.
“My faith is really important to me,” Mikesell said. “I’m a Christian.”
Mikesell, who enjoys reading theology books in her free time, is inspired by her faith to care deeply about the lives of each of her students, both inside and outside the classroom.
Mikesell stayed at Circle Christian School for six years, teaching Geometry, Algebra II and Trigonometry, but she was not satisfied with the hybrid learning style and knew something would eventually have to change.
“(Students) go there university style, and so they only come twice a week,” Mikesell said. “It doesn’t create that community that a lot of other schools have. I was looking to get to know students in a deeper way, and it was a little hard to get there.”
Once again, she began a search for a career that would support her purpose and ideals. That was when she found Trinity.
“I love how you have more activities that you’re involved in throughout the day,” Mikesell said.
Trinity was what she was looking for after all, with a strong school community, daily in-person classes, and a foundation of Christianity. Mikesell is currently teaching AP Calculus AB and Pre-Calculus, where she hopes to form these genuine connections with her students.
“I’m enjoying it so far,” Mikesell said. “The students have been really welcoming.”
Even though she is teaching calculus for the first time in a classroom setting, she is ready to take on the challenge.
“I want to do the best job that I can for the students that I’m teaching,” Mikesell said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of the harder-level classes.”
After spending two decades finding her purpose, Mikesell cannot wait to share with her students the subject that is the central reason they are on this mathematical journey.
“I love that about calculus,” Mikesell said. “It puts a purpose to it all.”
