When Kelly Cornelius landed her first real job in marketing almost three years ago, she considered herself fortunate to find a steady corporate gig so soon out of college.

“When I graduated, my only goal was to get a well-paying job that would allow me to be financially independent and allow me to live on my own and feel like an adult,” she says. “I was very blessed to find a job that allowed me to do that.”

Even though her new marketing career was going well, Cornelius felt an “itch” to try something different.

“My focus shifted from the money aspect, to what I can do to contribute and help others,” she says. “I did help people in an indirect way when I worked in marketing by providing our clients with useful products. But I was looking for something a little more meaningful.”

So Cornelius walked away from her marketing job at M. Lee Smith Publishers in Brentwood and started researching volunteer opportunities with Hands On Nashville. At first, she tutored non-native adults in English, and then volunteered with the Girls on the Run Program.

“I liked the teaching aspect of tutoring, but found I wanted to teach younger people,” she says. “I had heard of Girls on the Run, and I really like running, so I volunteered.”

In the running program, adult volunteers work with young girls in area schools to emphasize physical education and help build self-esteem.

“After we practiced running, we would split the girls into groups and propose a scenario such as ‘What would you do if you saw someone in school being bullied?’ We’d ask them questions and would discuss options. That’s where I got my teaching bug.”

Now Cornelius finds herself working at Whole Foods to put herself through school at Lipscomb University’s Masters of Education and Instructional Practice Program.

“It’s a new program at Lipscomb created for people who already have jobs,” she says. “I only have class right now on Saturdays, so it’s good for people who work during the week. Also, the program is geared toward people who’ve never taught before – like me, who’ve had another career, but chose to do something else. They also offer evening and online classes.”

A classmate of hers, Elizabeth Kalich, also enrolled in the Lipscomb program when she got the “bug” to teach.

Kalich caught that bug when her career took an unexpected turn. She moved to Nashville over two years ago with a bachelor’s of science in culinary arts. After having little luck finding a job in her field, she accepted a nanny position with a Nashville family.

“I grew close to the children and I decided to pursue a career that focused on young people,” she says. “I’ve always valued education and I decided I wanted to find a career where I could make a difference.”

Kalich says she still loves to cook and enjoys planning parties and events. But now she realizes it’s more of a hobby than a career. She says her current job as a nanny has helped prepare her for a new career in teaching.

“I have a wonderful relationship with these young children and this family,” she says. “Hopefully those skills will help me become a better teacher.”

Kalich adds that she knows her new career path won’t be easy, and she’s keenly aware that teachers work long hours for little pay.

“I think discipline will be a challenge for me,” she says. “I’m not the strictest person you’ll meet. I’ll need to be open to parents, so they can come to me and tell me things in confidence that might be affecting them or their child.”

Working as an educator brings with it some unique challenges not found in most corporate jobs.

Cornelius says she’s up to those challenges. Some of her friends thought she was crazy to leave a secure, corporate job to go back to school and become a teacher.

“People would tell me, ‘You had a good job and threw it away.’ But they didn’t understand where I was coming from,” she says. “I think we all could be doing something more than what we’re doing. We can be open and realize we’ll learn as we go and we don’t know everything. But if you have the will and the passion to do it, it will work out and will pay off in the end.”