Middle Georgia State senior ready to teach French culture

Middle Georgia State University senior Joshua Dean’s career aspirations came from a moment of academic disappointment.

Dean, 22, took French when he was a student at Macon’s Southwest High School, but behavior issues in his classes limited how much he actually learned, he discovered later. Once he got to Middle Georgia State, he took a French course, but he wasn’t even able to get through introductions before realizing he didn’t know what the other students did.

“So I was embarrassed and I dropped the course,” he said.

That didn’t mean the end of Dean’s French studies, though. He spent the rest of the semester studying French on his own to catch up.

“Then I took the course and it went extremely well,” Dean said.

His focus didn’t end there, as he has continued to come to professor Sabrina Wengier’s office for extra help during office hours.

“He’s been a really wonderful student,” she said. “He was really motivated from the start.”

Besides Dean’s assets in the classroom, Wengier lauded his kindness. She said he’s the type of person who is always willing to help out in whatever ways he can.

“He’s just a super awesome human being,” she said.

On Thursday, Dean will graduate from the university with a bachelor’s degree in English and an associate’s degree in French. He’s been hired to start this fall as a full-time French teacher at Central High School after serving as a French tutor there this spring while also working part time with the Macon-Bibb Parks and Recreation Department — and taking six classes at Middle Georgia State.

“My schedule nowadays is way more complex than it ever has been,” Dean said.

When he teaches his own French classes, his goal will be to go beyond the language and lead his students to a “broader sense of life.” Dean, who studied abroad in France, said he loves the culture there and hopes to pass on that love.

“I’m a huge fan of America, but I feel like people should broaden their horizons some,” he said.

Wengier has little doubt that teaching will be a good fit for Dean.

“He’s so passionate about it that I think that’s going to carry on to his students,” she said.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 8:53 AM with the headline "Middle Georgia State senior ready to teach French culture."