When the news first broke about the Clark County School District’s $50 to $60 million shortfall, prospective teacher Joshua Parker, a secondary education student at UNLV, became certain he had chosen the right career.

UNLV campus (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Shelby Mazza, an elementary education major at UNLV, said that she grew up in CCSD and feels like she owes it to her community to go back and teach there. Mazza is pictured here at Robert Taylor Elementary, where she is a mentor. (Courtesy)

Shelby Mazza, an elementary education major at UNLV, said that she grew up in CCSD and feels like she owes it to her community to go back and teach there. Mazza is pictured here at Robert Taylor Elementary, where she is a mentor. (Courtesy)

Joshua Parker, a secondary-education major at UNLV, said CCSD's recent problems have inspired him more to teach. (Courtesy)

Shelby Mazza, an elementary education major at UNLV, said that she grew up in CCSD and feels like she owes it to her community to go back and teach there. Mazza is pictured here on the left in a CCSD Kindergarten classroom. (Courtesy)

Nicole Ouro, an elementary education major at UNLV, thinks that education and teaching is the "most important job in the world." (Courtesy)

When the news first broke about the Clark County School District’s $50 to $60 million shortfall, prospective teacher Joshua Parker, a secondary education student at UNLV, became certain he had chosen the right career.

Parker wants to teach high-school English, and he wants to do it in Clark County.

The past several months have sent the fifth-largest school district in the country into a state of flux, after the district announced it would need to make between $70 and $80 million in cuts to stem the shortfall. Shortly after, Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky announced he would retire when his contract is up in June, necessitating a costly hunt for his successor.

Despite a seemingly endless flow of controversy, many prospective teachers are undeterred and even more excited to get in the classroom.

In his third year of education studies, Parker has done part of his practicum at Mojave High School and is currently at Durango High School, where he said he’s connected with administration, teachers and students.

“I’ve gotten nothing but massive support,” Parker said. And while he wants to spend a good portion of his career as a teacher, Parker already has his sights set higher. In a few years he wants to get a master’s degree in educational policy and leadership.

“I want to take over Pat (Skorkowsky’s) job,” he said. “When I see issues like this that happen … it hits a little bit close to home.”

Elementary education major Shelby Mazza said that she’s always known that she wanted to be a teacher. Her parents are educators, and she “grew up in the classrooms” of CCSD.

“I have a passion for working with children and have always been fortunate to have great teachers and attend great schools,” she said. A Henderson native, she started at Glen Taylor Elementary School and continued at Bob Miller Middle School and Coronado High School.

“I think I would like to stay in Clark County,” Mazza said. “I feel like we have such a shortage (of teachers), and we really need really excellent teachers. I feel like I owe that to my community.”

UNLV elementary education student Nicole Ouro said that she believes teaching is “the most important job in the world.” She wants to teach internationally and in refugee camps, but she hopes she can put her skills to use in America, too.

“I know that, between my peers and I in the education program, it’s pretty much the consensus that teachers deserve to be treated the same way doctors and lawyers and engingeers are treated,” Ouro said. “In my opinion, overlooking teaching as a worthwhile career by making jokes about pay or the seriousness of the job is why there is such a shortage of teachers nationwide.”

She also wants to get a master’s in educational policy so that she can help change the Amerian school system.

Parker and Mazza said that they’ve seen the same passion from their classmates. In a teaching-methods class Parker attends on Wednesday s, it has become a “giant discussion forum,” he said.

“All of us have agreed we need to get in there and start making an impact at our level,” Parker said. “Keep that motivation we have now, and don’t change later.”

Unlike Parker, Mazza said the school district’s problems haven’t come up in her classes.

“It has not been a topic of debate, which is interesting because I know it’s a big deal,” she said. “I almost feel like maybe it hasn’t been brought up because stuff like this seems to happen often. The people that are in it are like, ‘Eh, this is going to brush over.’”

While talk of a hiring freeze was scary at first, Mazza said, she felt confident that it wouldn’t affect her.

“Now … I have this mentality of ‘It will somehow get fixed,’” Mazza said. She wants to teach at a Title I school or at schools with a high percentage of children from low-income families, because that’s where she said she can make the most difference.

“Those kids have no say in where they go to school; they’re just as deserving of a fantastic education as every other third-grader,” Mazza said. “I think it’s important that well-qualified passionate teachers be going to those schools.”

Contact Madelyn Reese at mreese@viewnews.com or 702-383-0497. Follow @MadelynGReese on Twitter.