Laura: A Teacher With an Uncertain Future

Like many teachers, Laura Kincer’s favorite part of her job is spending time with her students. But with schools shut down, life has changed rapidly for Laura, a high school teacher. “I teach high school English and photojournalism. My everyday life was getting up, going to work, being surrounded by people all day...it was March 13th that the governor of Virginia said ‘you know, we’re closing schools’. It was just shocking to me. It was hard to get up every day after that.” 

Although some schools are doing online classes, in the low-income rural area where Laura works, most students don’t have access to tools like Zoom. So Laura is prepping packets of schoolwork for students and their families to pick up on campus, but it doesn’t feel the same. 

Laura’s contract with her school ends in June, and with the uncertainty of the pandemic, Laura is worried it may not be renewed. “Since it’s only my second year, and we’re not sure what’s going to happen next year, I am not guaranteed to have a job. It’s pretty worrisome to me,” she said. Laura will also not be paid over the summer. 

Luckily, she’s been working hard to build up her savings with SaverLife’s tools, which has given her a small cushion to ride things out. She saved her tax refund, and saves $200 a month in her savings account. “I started out looking at all the races SaverLife has online, and I just think the website is absolutely wonderful. You see other people putting money in their savings and you think, ‘I want to do that too,’” she said. 

In addition to her own savings, we were able to disburse an emergency $500 payment to Laura. “The $500 I got from you all was amazing. I used it to make a car payment,” she said. 

Laura is doing her best to keep moving forward through the challenges she is facing--she just started her master’s degree and is hopeful about returning to the classroom in the fall. “I am just excited to go back to work, to see my students and be able to interact with them every day,” she said.