David Mugovero had a good reason to want to be a doctor, but during his first year at Georgia State University, he realized it wasn’t the best reason.

“My soul purpose for wanting to be a doctor was for financial profit,” Mugovero says. “I had one of those life-realizing moments where it occurred to me that my life and my efforts shouldn’t be centered around financial gain. It should be centered around mental happiness and helping others.”

Now in his second year of teaching world history to eighth grade students at Central Baldwin Middle School in Robertsdale, Mugovero says he has found a career he is passionate about.

“I have always loved history, and I have always loved to share that love with others,” Mugovero says. “And what I like most about teaching is just seeing that ‘get-it’ moment where kids realize the relevancy of world history.”

More than a love for the lessons, Mugovero says he enjoys that his job allows him to help the development of his students as they prepare to go to high school.

“Its fun to not only teach them about history, but also about character development,” Mugovero says. “They are at such an important stage in their lives, and I can see them piecing it all together throughout the school year. I can see them develop as people.”

Mugovero says his course normally begins with the formation of civilizations in Mesopotamia and concludes after the colonization of the Americas.

Mugovero says he tries to instill his students with a strong work ethic, responsibility for their own behavior and desire to help those around them.

“There is a lot of maturing that they go through in middle school, especially in the eighth grade,” Mugovero says. “Once they leave here, they are in high school, and they are adults.”

TEACHER: David Mugovero

SCHOOL: Central Baldwin Middle School

SUBJECTS TAUGHT: Eighth grade world history