Jazmin Witters starts her mornings before the Oklahoma sun fully rises, quietly moving through her Ponca City home so she doesn’t wake her two-year-old son. With another baby due in October, the house already feels full, of laughter, of anticipation, and of the steady rhythm she’s built with her husband, Jacob, after long days at work. By the time she grabs her keys, she’s already thinking about equations, lesson plans, and the students waiting for her at Ponca City High School.
This year marks her first at the high school, a shift from the middle school classrooms where she spent six years building her foundation as a teacher. Before that, there was Wichita, her starting point, where she first discovered how much she loved helping students make sense of math. It was never just numbers to her. Even as a student, she found herself explaining problems to friends and siblings, breaking things down until understanding clicked.
She still remembers the teachers who shaped that instinct, Mr. Adams and Mr. Powell. They made math feel approachable, even enjoyable, and showed her what it meant to truly connect with students. Now, standing at the front of her own classroom, she carries their influence with her every day.
Her schedule is full, four sections of Algebra 2 and two of Algebra 1, but what stays with her aren’t the worksheets or tests. It’s the moments. The pause before a student’s eyes widen. The quiet “ohhh” when something finally makes sense. The lightbulb moments.
Some of her students she’s known for years, dating back to middle school. Others are new faces, still figuring her out. But together, they form the community she values most. This year is especially meaningful, her first group of students in Ponca City is graduating, and she’ll be there to watch them walk across the stage.
Bittersweet doesn’t quite cover it.
When the school day ends, Jazmin returns to what matters most, family. Whether it’s evenings at home or trips back to Wichita, she makes time for the people who shaped her, just as she continues shaping the lives of her students, one lesson at a time.
