Jaret Miller

“What excites me most is I have the opportunity to make a positive impact on a whole generation of students. Keeping them engaged and having fun with learning is something I really look forward to doing.”

-Jaret Miller

Jaret Miller plans to become a middle school math or science teacher in the future. When he isn’t studying, Jaret enjoys playing video games, reading comics, listening to music, and cooking.

Get to know Jaret

• Major: Elementary education
• Class: Senior
• Hometown: West Des Moines, Iowa (Polk, Dallas, Warren counties)
• Career goal: Middle school math or science teacher
• Clubs/activities: Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers Learning Community, Delta Sigma Phi
• Awards/honors: Dean’s list
• Favorite place on campus: Parks Library
• Most influential ISU mentor: Heather Kruger
• Favorite class: SP ED 250, Education of the Exceptional Learner in a Diverse Society
• Why Iowa State: Mother went to Iowa State, loved the staff and the overall environment of the campus and events.

Jaret Miller finds unexpected dream career in teaching, strives to make positive impact on future students

For Jaret Miller, senior in elementary education, teaching wasn’t always his first choice for a career. He was originally interested in becoming a marine biologist. After deciding that it wasn’t for him, one of his high school teachers recommended he take a teaching course for college credit, and since then, his life has changed for the better.

The teaching class allowed him to dabble in working with students of different ages. Jaret observed young elementary school classes and older high school classes, and from there he decided that somewhere in the middle was his preferred age range.

He said when he first spent time in a sixth-grade classroom, the teacher and all the students were so glad to have him there. That classroom is the reason he wants to be a teacher today.

“At the end of my first day, a 10-year-old girl walked up to me and gave me a drawing that said ‘Mr. Miller’ on it, and it was me,” Jaret said. “That got me hooked, and I was like, ‘I want to do this from now on.’”

Jaret knows he wants to teach either science or math to middle school students, as science and math were his favorite subjects growing up. Regardless of what he teaches, he is eagerly looking forward to making his impact on students.

“What excites me most is I have the opportunity to make a positive impact on a whole generation of students,” Jaret said. “Keeping them engaged and having fun with learning is something I really look forward to doing.”

After graduation, Jaret would love to go back and teach in the West Des Moines area where he grew up, especially because he’s familiar with so many schools there. He was a part of the Silver Cord program, in which he volunteered at countless schools in his community.

However, Jaret also said that he’s open to anything, and would even go out of state to find his dream teaching job. Wherever Jaret goes, his main concern is shaping his students for the better, and encouraging them to follow their dreams, just like he is.

“I want to let students know that [school] is a safe space, and that they can do whatever they want,” Jaret said. “The world is wide and full of opportunities, and just because they had a rough year or think they can’t do something, that doesn’t matter, [they] can still do it.”