Teaching is not for everyone, but for Vicksburg Junior High School eighth-grade teacher Tierra Collins, teaching is everything.

At 27 years old, she already teaches like a pro.

“I thought that she had been teaching for five to seven years, but she’s a new teacher. She runs circles around some of our veteran teachers,” Lashonda Smith, vice-principal at VJHS said.

“I love what I do. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I love trying to make a difference in my students’ lives,” Collins said.

Her goal is to help her students achieve their goals.

“It’s a joy to teach today’s youth. They’re all unique. I just truly love what I do,” she said.

Collins went to Mississippi College for her freshman and sophomore years and then transferred to Mississippi State University and received her Bachelor’s degree in 2009.

She then went to the University of West Alabama and received her Master’s degree in two fields, History and Higher education in 2011.

After she graduated, she taught in Holly Springs at Holly Springs Junior high School. She taught seventh-grade math and history until 2013.

She said she immediately knew that VJHS is where she wanted to teach when she visited the school.

“I loved the atmosphere here and I knew this is where I wanted to work,” she said.

She loves the district, and said she doesn’t plan on going anywhere any time soon.

“We’re in the business of helping children grow — I love that. I love to come to work,” Collins said.

Collins loves the children she teaches, and enjoys being able to influence them and prepare them for the future.

“I think this is the age group that has the most challenges and I love being able to help them have a positive outlook on their future,”

She said her passion is to help them accomplish their goals and be successful later on in life.

Another reason she says she loves children is because she is currently not able to bear any of her own.

“Sometimes the kids will ask, ‘you don’t have any kids?’ And I say not yet,” she said.

She has considered adoption, but said she will not seriously consider it until she is 30 years old.

“I feel like one day my husband and I will be blessed with a child,” she said.

Collins enjoys her job so much that she doesn’t always want to leave it at the end of the day.

“I have to get on to her about this job and constantly remind her that it does come to an end,” Smith said. “Last night it was 7:30 p.m. and she was still up here. She just has that competitive spirit about her,” she said.