During summer break, most high school students take on a job. Sometimes it leads to an impact on their career path. Mr. Pettit, one of Louisville’s high school math teachers, not only lived and worked at the Safari Park his whole life, but he also made friendships there and met some of the most impactful people in his life. During his career at the Safari Park, no animal helped him near as much as the teachers did.
Since Pettit’s dad was a superintendent at the park, he got to see all of the wildlife behind the scenes, which brought him to one of his ideas for the future: he considered going into a career with animals. Not only did he love animals, but he loved the teachers around him, too.
“I got to talk to a lot of teachers which made me want to become a teacher,” said Pettit. “I really liked the idea of getting summers off.”
Pettit was not only surrounded by animals and teachers, but he also came across cranky people. This helped develop his people skills and, unpredictably, it helped create friendships. He was just a teenager who didn’t fully know how to take charge of upset customers, which is how friendships built for him: he got help from his fellow coworkers.
Now that Petit isn’t stuck in the animal-filled area anymore, he gets to enjoy his summers off and spend his work-time helping students learn to love what he loves: math.