Michelle Young Reveals Why She’s Taking a Break From Teaching

The 28-year-old, who got engaged to Nayte Olukoya on season 18 of The Bachelorette, said taking this time to reflect “highlighted the fact that there’s so much going on with our education system.” And ultimately, her decision to step back from teaching was twofold.

“I’ve decided to step out of the classroom because I need to make sure that, one, I’m taking care of myself,” she said, “but, two, those teachers and those who are in the profession know that teaching is a profession that is completely built on passion….The amazing thing about that is a lot of wonderful things can come from that. The difficult part of that, and the realistic side of that, is that when it’s built on passion, if those people who are in those foundations aren’t valued, if they’re not supported, if they’re not taken care of, if they’re not listened to, that foundation starts to crack. And I think you can talk to pretty much any teacher, and they will tell you that these last two years have been really difficult with the pandemic. And even before the pandemic, the foundation was already starting to crack.”