Humans of NGU: Do you know the real Merena Russeau?
Jaycee Stone, Contributing Writer
Making a difference in children’s lives is a big plan in one of our very own NGU education program students. She hopes to have a real connection to the children she teaches in the future.
Over the years, Merena Russeau has gained much passion for educating and helping children through her background in babysitting. “I always felt a very strong draw to kids, and I never really knew why.” Russeau said.
Being an education major, she hopes to inspire, teach and guide children by using the things that she went through as a child. She wants to make a difference on their mindsets and hopes to make them have a fun time learning things they would need to know.
She realized this in her first job working at a place called Ezekiel Ministries that cared for children that lived under the poverty line. “It’s an incredible program that also supports the family as well as the kids and their whole mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty,” she said.
She was touched that it was such a great community and has learned so much from the staff, as well as the children. She learned how to react to tantrums and how to handle difficult situations. This was just the start of her journey to learn more about teaching and helping children.
She then started to babysit and work at her church in the children’s room. It set her up for great success to shape and mold future generations. It showed her that she was made to be in a teaching position, because she felt she could handle any problem that would occur. Having this background already, it has shown her that she can teach these children and lead them in a good direction.
Russeau goes into detail as to why she feels like she has a stronger connection with children than most. She said, “I think because I did have a lot of problems myself when I was younger, it makes me more understanding of kids who struggle with different mental health problems.”
In light of this, Russeau states that she believes 100% that teaching is her calling. She didn’t truly understand what having one felt like until two years ago when she fully committed herself to her faith.
“I didn’t realize it was my calling until recently, I wasn’t the strongest believer until around two years ago. I had just gotten this feeling that God was calling me to work and help with children,” she said. Russeau also says that North Greenville has helped her come to a better understanding of her calling to help children.
With being involved in education classes more and learning about the things she needs to know to teach and nurture them, it has given her confidence and the right skills to do her future job successfully. She has loved learning things about how she would need to teach and how she can use these specific skills to help them with anything they may need.
Through all these certain events taking place, Russeau believes that she is the woman of God that she was meant to be and has truly found who she is. She also says that she is right where she needs to be. With this newfound confidence, she is thriving and living out her calling. Russeau cannot wait to start teaching in the future and use the skills she has learned at NGU to shape children to who they are meant to be when they are older.
