Audra Yates

Audra Yates is a new teacher at Arlington Community Schools. Ms. Yates teaches special education at Donelson Elementary. She has been teaching for eight years, but is new to the Memphis area.

Ms. Yates, at first, didn’t think about being a teacher. “I had said I’m not going to be a teacher. I saw what my mom had to do, and there is no way I’m going to do this.” She originally pursued Nursing. She went to a Youth Camp to help teach special education students and fell in love with it. She changed her focus to Education right after.

While Yates was in Mississippi, she couldn’t find a job focused around special education, so she taught a general education class.

While Ms. Yates is not in the classroom, she enjoys traveling. She also spends time with her friends from Jackson and her nieces and nephews.

When she came here, she was scared, but she says, “since day one, the vibes that I got and from the the teachers, principals, and from the staff, it made me feel right at home. Arlington has a sense of community.”

She loves it here and thinks she’s going to have a great year.