Every child has a voice.

That’s the teaching philosophy of Maxine White, a seventh grade social studies teacher at Warren Central Junior High School.

“I like to get the opinion of the students when I’m teaching,” she said. “I like for our discussions to be very open.”

White, a second-year teacher originally from the Delta said she wanted to wait for just the right time before taking on a teaching job.

White said she first earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Jackson State University and then went on to pursue an accounting certificate from Mississippi College.

“Then I realized I didn’t want to do that,” she said. “That’s how I got into education.”

White finished her schooling at Delta State University, where she met the requirements she needed to teach.

Before accepting a full-time position White spent 10 years substitute teaching and tutoring for the school district, she said.

“I wanted to be involved in something in which I could be a full-time mom and also have some income coming in,” White said.

After moving to Vicksburg 20 years ago, White had two girls, Ada, 18, and Olivia, 16.

White added that as her children got older, they needed her less, so that’s when she decided to take a full-time teaching position last year.

“I’ve always had a passion for it, but you want it to be at the right time so you can give it 100 percent,” she said.

White’s passion is evident when she talks about her subject, social studies

“I like learning about history, and learning about the beliefs and ideas of different sets of people,” she said. “For instance the ancient Egyptians, just looking at their different way of thinking and comparing the way they thought with the way we do things today.”

White said her first year of teaching was challenging, but it was also rewarding.

“My first year of teaching was a third grade class,” she said. “I walked into a classroom where the students were not performing as well as they should have been, but at the end of the year I got to see all of those students but two doing really well and moving on to the next grade.”

White said when she’s not teaching she enjoys spending her weekends volunteering with her ministry and doing things with her two children.

“I like to spend time with my girls,” she said. “We like to go to the movies, go bowling and of course shopping.”