It had also taken Jameson a while to figure out what to study in college, and it was a source of great anxiety for him as a Bakersfield High School Driller whose AP classmates knew what they wanted to major in.
“I was looking down on myself because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I wasn’t seeing something that they were,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.”
Because of his indecisiveness, and to save money, Jameson enrolled at Bakersfield College. He didn’t like English or advanced math but did like figuring out how people spend money. So he majored in economics and after two years, transferred to CSUB.
Jameson earned his bachelor’s degree in Spring 2019.
Over the summer, every job application Jameson submitted was met with rejection or no reply at all. So in the fall he started substitute teaching in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District and Kern High School District, just showing up and following teachers’ instructions.
He was pretty far outside his comfort zone as someone who didn’t like public speaking.
In late fall, Jameson landed a long-term subbing job in a junior high math class and it required him to develop lessons, administer tests and grade them. He took to it.
“As the weeks went on, I was liking it more and more,” Jameson said. “They were very nice,” he said of the students, “and they liked me, too.”
When a Mira Monte High School math teacher went on maternity leave after the holidays, he picked up that long-term substitute teaching gig and his affection for the profession continued to grow.
“I really like to drive home the idea of math in the real world,” Jameson said. “It’s not just something useless that you learned in school and will never use again.
“…And once the students kind of see the benefits of it, they want to be engaged and want to listen to what you have to say.”
Along the way, other Mira Monte math teachers offered guidance and answered his questions .