Tiffany McIntosh, math teacher, has wanted to be a teacher since she knew how to think for herself. She grew up in a household where her mother was a teacher. She aspired to be like her mother and thus, always wanted to and dreamed of becoming a teacher. In order to become a teacher, she got her college degree at South Carolina State University and began working at a high school in South Carolina, where she resided for three years before moving to Florida. After working at Roosevelt Middle School for six years, she found her way to Bak, where she has been since 2011. She has always taught math, which “was always easy for me to explain, which made me think I would be a good math teacher,” McIntosh said. Other than teaching, McIntosh loves listening to country music and sleeping. “If I don’t sleep at least 8-10 hours one night, you don’t want to see me the next day,” McIntosh said. Being a teacher for 21 years, McIntosh can’t imagine her life without it. With her childhood experience, she has been around teaching and education since before she knew how to walk and talk. It is an engraved part of her that she wants to cling on to forever. “My favorite part about teaching is seeing the lightbulb when a student finally understands a topic,” she said. “Just witnessing that one singular moment makes my day so much better.”

Glen Barefoot, visual arts teacher, didn’t always know that he wanted to be a teacher or even work with children at all. He began his professional life as a cabinet builder before becoming an art studio manager and eventually, a freelance artist, making his own designs and selling them for a profit. “I didn’t even consider teaching before I went on a community service project in art school. I went to an inner city middle school for a week and I fell in love,” Barefoot said. Speaking of school, Barefoot received his education from the Maryland Institute of Art, Palm Beach State University and Florida Atlantic University.  He has been a teacher since 1993 and has been working at Bak since the very beginning. In fact, he is the last first-year hire still left teaching at Bak. He absolutely loves his students and says that he would do anything for them. Outside of the classroom, Barefoot loves sculpting, surfing, camping and anything else outdoorsy. He calls himself a “cat lady” as he has four cats at home, he used to be in a band and he even used to be a “punk rocker.” “You know, I had the slicked mohawk and everything. That was a fun time,” Barefoot said. One fun fact about him is that he married his high school sweetheart, Dyan Barefoot, who just happens to be a seventh grade language arts and world mythology teacher at Bak as well. Barefoot is known as a fun and humorous man in and out of the classroom, but says that, “if there is one thing I want to be remembered for, it is being a teacher.”

Catherine Ebanks, sixth grade math teacher, is a University of Central Florida and Nova Southeastern University graduate and has always known that she wanted to be an advocate for children. When she was 12 years old, she thought she would do this by being a family attorney and protecting the rights and safety of children in the courtroom. However, when she volunteered with a public school during an undergraduate collegiate project, “I realized my preferred setting for serving children was education. It’s been the most rewarding experience to come to my childhood middle school to do so,” Ebanks said. She originally wanted to work with children because of the multitude of challenges that she overcame as a child. She always wanted to use the resilience that she gained from this experience to advocate for children throughout their rough journeys. “Every child is worthy of a happily ever after and receiving an education can assist to that end,” Ebanks said. She loves working with children during this developmental stage of their lives and enjoys seeing their confidence skyrocket and hearing them talk about their hopes, dreams, goals and accomplishments. When not in the classroom, Ebanks can commonly be found reading, listening to a podcast or audiobook, exercising, listening to music or catching up with friends and family. Overall, Ebanks loves working with children and watching them grow and find themselves throughout the school year. “I love teaching and if I could do it all over again,” Ebanks said, “I would do everything the exact same way.”