For Justice Elementary teacher Becky Rigsby, working with students isn’t just a job, it’s a lifelong passion.

“My mom says I was born a teacher,” Rigsby said. “I used to play school when I was little and my mother joked that it sounded like I was the entire room. I was the teacher, the principal and the students.”

She jokes that teaching is in her blood. Her grandmother was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, and her college-aged son and high school-aged daughter are both studying for careers in education.

Rigsby, a resident of Winchester, has been teaching for 14 years, and she has taught at three different schools in Clark County.

“I started at Trapp as a Title 1 teacher,” she said. “That was good because I got to work with all group levels. Then I taught fourth grade at Central. When Justice opened I wanted to try something different, so I switched to third grade and loved it, I’ve been here ever since.”

Rigsby said one reason she enjoys working with third-grade students is that they are still young enough to want to get to know their teacher and help out in the classroom, but they are developing independence at the same time. She said an additional challenge is that in third-grade students begin taking part in state testing.

“Third grade is a big year in Kentucky schools,” she said. “It’s a big maturity year.”

Rigsby said she loves the relationships she builds with her students, and she enjoys helping them get excited about what they study especially reading.

“Reading is probably my favorite because it has such an impact on everything else,” she said.

Rigsby said her experience helps her to pay better attention to her class and recognize when they need help or just a break.

“Sometimes you just have to stop and take a little break or you’ll lose them,” she said. “We’ll stop every once in a while and just do some silly things, and when we come back they know they need to be focussed and get back to work.”

She said the hardest thing about being a teacher that most people don’t realize is the variety of things required of people working with children.

“There’a a lot of hats to wear,” she said. “I’m a teacher, I’m a nurse, I’m a mother, I’m a therapist.”

When not teaching, Rigsby said she enjoys spending time with her husband, two children and her dog. She says she is an avid reader and musician, and she enjoys playing piano for her church, Todds Road Grace Church in Lexington.