Vicksburg Intermediate sixth-grade teacher, Cassandra Ringo knew teaching is something she had to do. She never questioned it.

Ringo teaches English, language and spelling.

She said she knew she had made the right call when it came time to pass the test that would certify her to teach.

“I knew I had to pass that test and do what I had to do to become a teacher,” she said.

She said even when she was a child she would spend a lot of her time playing “school,” and she enjoys children.

“I always enjoyed kids and making a difference in children’s lives,” she said.

Ringo received her Bachelor’s degree from Alcorn State University and is currently working on her master’s.

“Hopefully, I’ll get it this May — God willing,” she said.

Ringo went into the Army Reserve after high school and had to split her time in college with her time as a staff sergeant.

She spent eight years in the reserves and served in Kuwait in 2004.

From 2004 through 2006 she worked as a pre-K teacher at Kings Community Headstart School, and then in 2007 she came to Vicksburg Intermediate, and has been there for seven years.

She loves younger children and enjoys teaching younger grade levels.

She would always be a teacher. If she were to move to a higher grade it would be high school level.

“If I were to go down a grade, maybe I’d go to fourth or fifth grade,” she said.

Sharon Williams, principal at Vicksburg Intermediate said Ringo has, “the patience of Job.”

She is also humble and mild-mannered.

“The kids, parents and her coworkers are crazy about her. No one has a bad thing to say about her,” Williams said.

The one thing that really stands out about Ringo is her ability to help a struggling child learn how to read.

“She may take a student who is struggling with reading and may have been struggling for years, and turn on the light bulb for that child,” Williams said.

Ringo has two children of her own — sixth-grader Isaiah Thomas, 12, and Kindergartener Rihanna Ringo, 5 years old. Isaiah goes to Vicksburg Intermediate and Rihanna attends Dana Road.