Missy Springsteen-Haupt is an assistant teaching professor for the School of Education. In this episode of Humans of Iowa State, Springsteen-Haupt reflected on her life story while explaining her journey to be an educator. 

“I grew up in a non-traditional family environment,” Springsteen-Haupt said. “My biological father left when I was an infant. My mom, sister and I lived with my grandparents for a while.”

Springsteen-Haupt explained how living in a non-traditional family environment influenced how she set up her classroom while keeping an understanding that not every learning environment can be considered “safe.” 

“When I was a toddler, my mom met my stepdad who would end up being my dad,” Springsteen-Haupt said. “He was a self-described self-employed starving artist who also battled a dual diagnosis addiction.”

Later in the episode, Springsteen-Haupt touched on her opinions of the DEI restructuring on Iowa State’s campus. The class she teaches at Iowa State was renamed due to DEI restructuring, causing Springsteen-Haupt to reassess her stances on laws in the classroom. 

“I had this childhood that was full of highs and lows and [was] also very unique in a lot of ways,” Springsteen-Haupt said. “One of the places that I always felt super valued was at school.” 

To end the episode, Springsteen-Haupt called other educators to action. She calls on other educators to care about the students first and make classrooms and learning spaces as humane as possible.

“[School] was a place where being a reader and a writer and someone who liked to talk a lot were all praised by my teachers,” Springsteen-Haupt said. “I knew from the time I was in third grade that I wanted to be a teacher because what could be cooler than being in charge of everyone and reading out loud to people.”

To have a chance to be the next Human of Iowa State, apply using this link.

To view Springsteen-Haupt’s story, click the watch link at the top of the article.



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