Between teaching second-grade at Bowmar Elementary School, coaching competitive gymnastics at Gym South Gymnastics and keeping up with her 1-year-old twins Emma and Greyson, Rebecca Flanagan is hardly ever away from children, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m surrounded by them,” she said. “I got what I wished for — to be with children.”

Flanagan, who is in her sixth year of teaching, said she teaches because she loves working with children.

“Seeing their face every morning and how excited they get when they achieve something they’ve been working on for a long time; the things they say to you; having them write you a note that says we love you; those are just things that will brighten anyone’s day,” she said.

During Leader in Me training, all of the teacher’s at Bowmar Elementary came up with mission statements, Flanagan said.

“My personal mission statement is to strive each day to help each child reach his or her highest potential,” she said. “Each day we work to make them bigger and better than they were the day before.”

The Vicksburg native said she didn’t plan to be a teacher when she enrolled in college at the University of Mississippi.

“I went to college thinking I was going to be a dentist,” she said. “I took my first chemistry class and decided that was not the route for me, so I took a few entry early education classes and just decided from there that that’s what I wanted to do.”

Coaching gymnastics on the other hand is something Flanagan said she has done since high school.

“I started in about sixth grade doing cheerleading then I went to work at Gym South in high school doing tumbling classes,” she said. “When I would come home Christmas break during college I would go and work some classes. So now that I’ve come back to Vicksburg it’s just continued. I feel like I’ve been doing it forever.”

Flanagan said when she’s not teaching she’s at Gym South Gymnastics coaching Monday through Thursday.

“We just hade state meet in Corinth, Miss.,” she said. “A couple of our girls placed in the top three in the state either in all events or in individual events. That’s rewarding for them.”

Other than that Flanagan said she stays busy taking care of her twins, Emma and Greyson Mailhot.

“There’s very little down time,” she said.

One of Flanagan’s second-grade students, Ryan Hadley Grey, 8, said her teacher is very nice.

“She only yells when she absolutely has to,” she said.

Grey said Flanagan is a great teacher as well.

“She teaches in a way you can understand,” she said. “She does it the easiest way possible.”

Flanagan puts an emphasis on making time for students to make sure they understand the subject matter, Grey said.

“She can always make time for everybody to answer questions and to make sure they learn the easiest way for them,” she said.