Baldwin credits her second-grade teacher for setting the stage for her eventual career. “I remember the way she cared about us as individuals,” she says with a smile. “I remember her teaching things in a different way … She was differentiating the instruction before it was really a thing.”

After receiving a degree in elementary education, she used her knowledge and experience as a competitive gymnast to coach young girls. It was during this time in her life that she started dating a Catholic man she had actually known in high school. The two fell in love and got married. Two months after saying, “I do,” she found a job teaching within the Huntsville City School System.

The environment was familiar, but something was decidedly different for her. “I loved my class,” attests Baldwin, “but the experience was not very positive.” She had some rough days, which led her to join a prayer group organized by a fellow teacher. Even though the group met before school hours, the administration didn’t look kindly on the gathering.

After two years, Baldwin returned to coaching gymnastics, which she enjoyed until the couple welcomed a little bundle of joy in January of 2020. The COVID-19 epidemic afforded Baldwin special time with her baby girl, but when things opened back up, the young family realized the late nights associated with coaching were not ideal.

With her husband having attended Holy Spirit Catholic School, she curiously visited the school’s website looking for teaching positions. She was surprised to see the third and fourth grades were in need of teachers. “Let’s give it a try,” she thought, so she applied. Roughly two weeks later, she received a call, but the offer wasn’t what she was expecting. Baldwin was offered the resource position, providing academic support for students with exceptionalities such as ADHD and dyslexia. Admittedly, it was a “niche” she had never thought of pursuing, but she discovered she loved giving to her students what her second-grade teacher had given her: the surety of having someone care about them.

Two years into your new job, Baldwin and her husband received the news that their daughter had autism. Learning that her daughter was non-speaking thrust her personal life and professional life into a collision course. Her daughter’s needs prevented her from attending Holy Spirit, but that, too, was the work of the Holy Spirit. When her daughter’s school informed her of some concerns, she says that “the delivery was not very kind.” “I didn’t handle it well, but” she admits, “it helped me have compassion when I deliver news to parents here.”

Many Catholic and private schools don’t have the ability to offer the support needed by children such as Baldwin’s daughter, but her experience propelled her to adopt the mission of helping other families that want a Catholic education for their child be able to receive it. “Here at Holy Spirit,” she explains, “you see the entirety of Catholic education coming into play because the students grow spiritually, which is what has really kept me here. … The teachers here are very supportive of the whole child. They're trying to show the students God's grace … A religious base in academics is just so powerful, and teaching here has given me the strength to stay a positive mom and teacher.”