Sammie Yarnell's favorite era in the history lessons she teaches is the time of the generations that survived the Great Depression and won World War II, when it's easy to romanticize the world coming together to fight against a great evil.
Yarnell, 29, of Jefferson City, already had a battle of her own to fight against cancer before she was even a year old. As a survivor, she tries to bring peace to children going through the same sort of experiences she's had.
Yarnell will start at St. Martin Catholic School this fall as the social studies teacher for grades 4-8, after teaching fifth grade in Russellville for the first three years of her career.
She's a graduate of Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Jefferson City, Helias Catholic High School and Lincoln University after she completed her first three years of college at Truman State University.
"I never thought I would be a teacher until someone suggested it," she said. Social studies is her passion, she added, because as a past teacher of hers got her to love history despite that most children usually don't, "it's my goal to make them find that like or even that love."
"I've been described as the 'Ms. Frizzle' of things," referring to the enthusiastic teacher behind the wheel of "The Magic School Bus."
She said her classroom is "very conducive to conversation," even about things that are important but not necessarily on the lesson plan, such as letting students ask questions about how the electoral college works on Election Day in 2016.
For Mardi Gras, she's worn a sequined purple dress and brought in king cake in an effort to "bring life back into learning" - adding "if you stand on a desk to do it, awesome."
She hasn't done that yet, but she said she has talked to her whiteboard to get students' attention.
The classroom isn't the only place Yarnell serves children. She taught swim lessons in high school and currently is a substitute lifeguard at Memorial Park Family Aquatic Center and Ellis-Porter Riverside Pool. She also works at local YMCA pools year-round.
Beyond that, she runs the aquatic programs at Camp Rainbow in Chesterfield, a location she called "the most magical place on earth."
"It's an opportunity for me to give back and serve in a way God wants me to," she said of working at the summer camp for children with cancer and blood-related diseases.
She attended when she was 9 years old, being a survivor of a stage 3 germ cell cancer diagnosis when she was younger.
She probably was born with the disease; and as her tumor grew with her, it had wrapped itself around her spinal cord and metastasized to her lungs.
Beating cancer still leaves her with a gauntlet of long-term health effects.
She said attending Camp Rainbow meant that for the first time in her life, she didn't feel different. "My scars were the same as everybody else's," she said.
"I think it's important for kids to have companionship," she added.