University of the Ozarks senior history major Tanner Russell is making some history of his own this spring when he graduates with the University’s first social studies teaching licensure.
Russell, who was named the 2025 Outstanding Student in Secondary Education this week at Honors Day, is graduating on May 17 with Magna Cum Laude honors.
When the University added a social studies licensure option in 2023, Russell was one of the first to sign up.
“Ozarks did not have social studies licensure as an option when I first arrived on campus, so I didn’t know if I would have to go through an alternative licensure process,” he said. “I had talked to Mrs. [Pam] Smith, director of teacher education, who said that it was a possibility. I knew that I wanted to pursue it because of the impact that my social studies teacher in high school had on me. I felt that teaching social studies was my vocation and calling, so I had to pursue it. Whenever the licensure opportunity became available my junior year, I had to switch my catalogue year. I had to work with a lot of people to get everything right. The University staff and faculty helped me tremendously through this process. It was a long process, but it was very much worth it.”
A native of Ozark, Ark., Russell said he feels proud to be the first U of O graduate to obtain the social studies licensure.
“It feels great knowing that I helped a new group of people that want to go into this profession,” he said. “The state of Arkansas and the world needs great educators, and especially social studies educators. It’s awesome meeting more and more students that are choosing this path that I helped to pave. I like knowing that I had a small part in people being able to follow their vocation and calling.”
Russell, who plans to marry his fiance Annie Sampley next summer, spent the past year student-teaching at Clarksville High School, an experience that confirmed his desire to go into the teaching and coaching profession.
“It has been absolute blast,” Russell said. “I have been having so much fun. In order to do this, you have to love it. I love hanging around the kids and joking with them, but I also love teaching and working with them. It is so fun to teach them the information that I find so valuable. I get to learn about the ins and outs of being an educator. I have learned that relationships are the most important thing about being an educator. You need relationships to teach the students.”
Russell said the full-year internship has been a valuable learning experience as he prepares to take on his own classroom in the near future.
“As I’ve gone through my internship, I have learned that the more students are able to open up and trust me, the more they learn,” he said. “Positive relationships help you work with the other teachers as well. Teachers rely on each other so much. Mr. Walker, my cooperating teacher, and other teachers/coaches have helped me so much throughout my internship at Clarksville High School. If you are having trouble with a situation, then there’s a veteran teacher that has probably gone through that same thing.”
Through his internship experience, Russell said he learned that teaching is much more than just making sure the students learn the subject.
“It’s about being a person that they can trust, when many students might not have that person,” he said. “It’s the relationships you build with students that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. It’s being a positive role model when they might not have one. Through my internship, I have heard many positive stories from other teachers about how they have impacted others. I’ve learned that being the positive in a world of negative goes a long way.”
One classroom moment that stands out is when Russell let a student take over and quiz the class while Russell sat down at a desk and pretended to be a student.
“He began asking questions and the entire class was into it; they were answering questions right and left, and whenever the class noticed me acting like I was sleeping they all pointed it out,” Russell said. “The student that was asking questions then went over and told me to wake up exactly how a teacher would, and I responded like how a student would and the entire class laughed. Whenever you can get high school students out of their shell it is really fun. It was fun for them to see roles switched, and I really got to see a lot of their personalities.”
Russell comes from a family of educators. His grandmother was a 5th grade teacher in Clarksville and his grandfather was a high school baseball coach and social studies teacher at Scranton.
“I do not remember much of my grandfather, but I have always been told stories about him by people he impacted through his teaching,” Russell said. “I meet people in all sorts of places that mention how he impacted them. I knew my grandmother more. When she passed, I remember her funeral even though I was young. That Southern Baptist Church was absolutely packed. People were standing outside the sanctuary because it was overflowing. I have been told that my grandfather’s funeral was the same. I know that the Lord showed me these experiences to realize how many people they impacted through their careers. Losing my grandparents was difficult. I did not know them for as long as other people, but I had, and have, a special bond with them. Their lives impacted so many people. If I can touch even a fraction of the lives they touched, I will have succeeded as an educator.”
Russell said he has always had a love for history and that a high school teacher helped fuel that passion.
“I am not quite sure where my love for history started, but even when I was young I watched historical movies and cartoons,” he said. “However, I had a great social studies teacher in high school that helped me realize that I wanted to do something in the history field. I had an interest, but Mrs. Dawa helped me to realize how much I loved it. Then throughout my college career, I learned that history is not just facts about the past. History is our story, and how we as a human race have gotten to where we are at today. Whether good or bad, all the occurrences throughout history have formed the world into its current state. People often ask why is history so important. That is my answer. History is the story of us. How am I, Tanner Russell, at the University of the Ozarks in the year 2025 CE? Because events happened to lead me to where I am today. History occurred to bring everything together to this moment in time, and continues to work long after we’re gone.”
With the help of the Pat Walker Teacher Education Program, Russell said he’s ready and excited to begin his teaching career.
“They have prepared me by helping me to be over-prepared and over-professional,” he said. “In order to get a job, they know that I have to be the best prepared candidate. Not only that, but they were there whenever I needed them. They never failed to be there for me whenever I had a question or just wanted to talk. It is easy to see that every person in the Walker Teacher Education Program cares about the students and wants us to succeed. I have had many conversations with professors in the department about not just school work, but life problems that I might be going through. Also, in many schools students do not graduate with their licensure, but at the U of O they do. Without the staff helping us through that, it would be a super confusing and difficult amount of tests, paperwork, professional development, background checks, etc.”
“Ozarks has helped me to grow into a new person. Through the people I’ve met and the challenges it has given me, Ozarks has changed me for the better. At Ozarks, you can tell that people care. Nowhere else is the same. It is truly one of a kind, and you can sense that as soon as you step on campus. Professors know me by name and each one has made me feel special in some way. You’re just not going to get that anywhere else.”
Topics: Education