City Park School is celebrating a remarkable full-circle story this year as veteran teacher Stephanie Williams begins her 34th year in education. Williams, who has spent her entire career teaching in Dalton Public Schools, is now teaching alongside one of her former students.
Williams has taught at Morris Street, Park Creek, and City Park, spending the last 20 years at City Park. This school year, she welcomed Kimberly Gonzalez, a former student she taught nearly 25 years ago at Park Creek, as a co-teacher in the 3rd–5th grade focus room.
“It’s an honor to me that someone I had in my classroom has also come into the same profession,” Williams said. “She was my little helper. She would stay and help me after school.”
Williams shared that her passion for teaching has never waned, largely because of her students.
“I love interacting with the kids,” she said. “They keep me young. I enjoy seeing how they learn and what they do.”
For Gonzalez, stepping into her former teacher’s school is the fulfillment of a dream.
“I was super excited to join City Park,” Gonzalez said. “I love teaching. I was super excited, and I always wanted to be a teacher.”
This touching moment at City Park is a reflection of something Dalton Public Schools is proud to see often—students who once walked the halls of DPS returning years later as teachers, sometimes even working side by side with the very educators who inspired them.
While this story is just one example, it highlights how generations of educators and students continue to shape one another. It’s a powerful reminder of what it means to Leave Your Mark.