Student teachers inspired by heroes

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Acts of courage are what led six adults at the Sandy Hook school to lose their lives and their bravery is inspiring those pursuing their own passion for teaching.

For many, being a teacher is more than imparting knowledge to students.

"You have a huge impact on everyone of their lives, you want to be part of that, you want to be able to make a difference," Nina Shewokis a Quinnipiac Teaching Student said.

Teaching for these students in the undergrad and masters teaching program at Quinnipiac University is a life calling.

"I used to make my friends play school with me. I always wanted to be the teacher and I made them be the students," Victoria Formica another QU teaching student said.

"I had such great history teachers they just made me want to take what I learned from them and pass it onto other people," QU teaching student Alex Burgos said.

The unthinkable loss of young lives and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary they say is a reality check, not a deterrent.

"You never really think about the unexpected but life is crazy. Sometimes they throw in curve balls. I guess you just gotta adjust, if circumstance happens, that you have to deal with something like that, you have to be ready for it," Chris Caldari another QU teaching student said.

The stories of bravery, of Victoria Soto protecting her first graders, only serve to inspire them. 

"After hearing about it and hearing all the stories, it makes me proud to be entering this profession, after hearing how heroic the teachers were, the staff," Shewokis said.

"You would hope that if you are ever put in that same situation you would the same thing for your kids because when you are a teacher, they are like your kids, you want to protect them as much as you can," Formica said.

While what happened here will be forever engrained in their minds, they look forward to the day they are at the head of the class.

"Teaching them but not only teaching them but learning from them.  There's so much we can do but there's so much that they can give back as well," Burgos said.

"We as future teachers we're doing this to make our schools that we're going into better and safer places and we hope that that experience and that event won't be forgotten," Caldari said.