BRADENTON, Fla. — Kashante Mays is in her sixth year teaching at Southeast High School in Bradenton.

It’s her 10th year of teaching.

She teaches English and she’s the Avid Coordinator, a program that helps students make a plan for after graduation.

“Students get the opportunity to apply for scholarships, learn about different colleges, different careers,” said Mays.

Mays takes her students on trips so they can see college campuses. This year, she planned a trip where they visited four universities in South Florida. They were able to see what campus life is like and explore where they could continue their education after high school.

“They were super excited just to see kids on campus studying with their computers and just doing things that we require them to do in class they got to see,” said Mays.

The students also got to learn about possible future careers on the trip.

“Getting the chance to see STEM careers and knowing about them and getting to use the tools that they actually use. They were excited to do that. As well as the colleges. They went to FIU and they fell in love,” said Mays.

She helps her students learn the material they need to graduate, and she wants to inspire them to have goals for the future.

“Whether that’s graduating from high school, whether that’s graduating from trade school, graduating from college. Whatever your goal is, you can do it and just be the greatest at it,” said Mays.

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