In a national and international perspective, Thomas Elliot, a teacher at Northeast Community College hopes to change the world one student at a time.

Growing up in Washington, Kan., with two younger sisters, not knowing he would pursue teaching until he graduated from Fort Hays State University. He worked for the same college for a while then moved to China for ten years.

Thomas Elliot said, before leaving for China in 2007 he never imagined traveling to different countries and taking on the role of teacher while he was there. It came as a shock to him that he actually enjoyed interacting with students. “Students are the future,” he said.  Therefore, he dedicates his time and plans for the future to make sure that the students today take with them something useful to the next generation.

As soon as he returned to the United States, Elliot was assigned to teach a first-year experience class at Northeast Community College because of his ability to work with international students. In the class, he creates a basis of the interaction between national and international students.

At the moment Thomas Elliot resides in a Norfolk suburb where he commutes to work every day from Woodland Park, spends time with his family and explores the outdoors. He always makes sure he shares any educational experiences with his students.

“It might be too late for me to change the world but hopefully some of my students can make some big changes to the world someday,” Elliot said.

As a man with vision for the future generation and experience with so many different colleges, he said the support for students at Northeast Community College is better than anywhere he has ever seen. No matter what the students need help or support with there is some way the college can help them out. In relation to what he stated the president of the college likes to say, “at Northeast we want the classes to be challenging, but we want everything else to be easy.”

Teachers are the most important part of any student’s success. Without them, the world would not be full of medical doctors or attorneys. Especially with the advancing of technology every day teachers are needed even more. The hope that teachers like Mr. Elliot have for students changing the world is what actually drives them to do just that.