Howard Young has held a number of jobs in his 50 years, but he never thought teaching would be one of them.

“I should’ve been doing this my whole life, but maybe this is the group of kids I was meant to start with,” he said at Frederick D. Thomas Middle School in Lewes, where he’s serving a residency that will culminate in a master’s degree in special education with a focus on math.

As a student, Young was in gifted and talented programs, participating in math league while earning spelling bee and Odyssey of the Mind championships.

“I was a nerd on another level,” he chuckled. “I had a road map laid out for me, but I kept taking bad turns.” 

Admittedly, Young started messing around and even failed a year before graduating from Cape High in 1993. He took tough jobs, doing home repairs and working in construction, renovation and retail.

“I actually helped build Delmarva Christian,” he said. 

But, every job left him hurting at the end of the day or aching each morning. Through the years, he earned associate degrees in construction management and environmental science, and a bachelor’s degree in operations management.

Young said his longtime friend Haywood Burton, now the behavior manager at Frederick D. Thomas Middle, consistently pressured him to apply for a position with the Cape district.

“Every degree I got is because he just wouldn’t shut up,” Young laughed. “I applied just so I could tell him, ‘See? I did it.’”

Young sought a custodial position for the 2023-24 school year, and quickly got a call from Assistant Human Resources Supervisor Lisa Morris.

“She saw my transcripts, and she’s the reason I’m here and not a custodian,” Young said. “She asked if I ever thought about teaching. I thought, maybe a para, but she said, ‘No. You’re going to be a teacher.’ I was so excited to know I could be a teacher.”

Young worked as a custodian at Lewes Elementary last school year, and started taking classes.

“Best decision I ever made,” he said.

Cape Human Resources Supervisor Ned Gladfelter said Young is enrolled in the Relay Graduate School of Education, a two-year master’s program. In his first year, Young is a resident working under mentor teacher Jordan Dutton. Next year, he’ll have his own classroom as a teacher of record while finishing his classes.

The teacher shortage is strong across the state, Gladfelter said, so district human resources directors are working with Delaware colleges and Delaware Department of Education on programs to develop their own paraprofessionals into teachers. 

“Growing our own helps solve the problem,” Gladfelter said.

There are still traditional student teachers, Gladfelter said, but that model doesn't work for everyone. In the past, people who wanted to go back for teaching degrees would have to student teach with no pay or benefits for several months.

“It was a real barrier for people,” Gladfelter said. “This supports paras so they can continue in their position while training.”

On top of the paraprofessional salary paid by the district, residents receive a stipend from the state as financial support, Gladfelter said.

Another Cape employee who also had a bachelor’s degree is enrolled in the Relay program, Gladfelter said. Additionally, four other employees who had associate degrees are completing bachelor’s degrees at Delaware Technical Community College and Wilmington University.

The year-long residency provides more experience to novice teachers, who come away more prepared, Gladfelter said. They spend the whole year with their partnering teacher, starting from the beginning-of-the-year in-service days, and more responsibilities are added as time goes on, he said.

“It helps diversify the district,” said Gladfelter, noting the district has fewer external applicants because prospective employees can’t move to the Cape Region, buy million-dollar homes and work as new teachers. “It’s cheaper to live somewhere else. If they’re already here, they don’t need to move.”

As for Young, he’s already got his eyes on a doctorate. For now, he’s forming relationships with students while working one-on-one with them to help them focus. COVID hit hard, he said, and many students missed in-person instruction in elementary school when they should have been learning long division. 

“I already consider them my children. I love them; I really do. When they get something, especially if it’s something they’ve given up on, and they see they get it, it’s like they won a championship,” he said. “Each barrier passed helps them become a better student.” 

Young reflected on his own teachers and friends who pushed him along the way and wanted better for him.

“It’s shocking to me sometimes to see myself hanging out with teachers and not construction workers,” he laughed. “This is the only job where I leave at the end of the day either happy or wanting to do more. I never had a job I loved before teaching.”

To learn about the Relay program, go to capehenlopenschools.com/Page/4238.