Beaverton virtual teacher’s education, career comes full circle
Feb 23, 2026
BEAVERTON, Mich. (WJRT) – A Mid-Michigan teacher is demonstrating that success doesn’t always follow a traditional path.
Charity Clark, an educator in Beaverton in Gladwin County, is now teaching at the Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy, the same online school that influenced her own future.
“Education is the main goal but I also want them to feel like they can talk to me about real life and real things,” Clark said.
Clark attended the virtual academy from eighth grade through graduation. For the past four years, she has been teaching there as a reading interventionist at the middle school level.
Clark said learning online gave her independence and taught her how to stay motivated, skills she now helps her students develop every day.
“I usually like to give them quotes of the day, things to give them a jumpstart and also just give them the courage they need to keep pushing forward even in their regular general ed class,” Clark said.
She understands the challenges her students face, from staying focused at home to feeling connected in a digital classroom, because she experienced them herself.
“She’s patient, she’s supportive and she really takes her time to understand how my son learns,” Michael Holland Sr., a parent of a student at the school said.
“She really listens and makes sure that the students are understood when she’s teaching class, and she also checks in with us and makes sure the class feels more personal even though it’s online,” student Michael Holland, Jr. said.
Clark said the inspiration goes both ways, reflecting on a student who had been struggling in school and how their time together made a difference.
“I began to see not only her love for learning begin to grow, her confidence as a person, as a student,” Clark said, adding, “It really inspired me even more to do what I do today.”
Clark believes returning as a teacher feels like coming home.
She hopes her story shows students that no matter how they learn, their path can lead them exactly where they’re meant to be.