INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Public Schools employs hundreds of teachers every year.
This year, three of them have a special connection.
Mrs. Rhonda Adams teaches at IPS' Thrival Indy Academy. It shares a campus with Arlington Middle School.
Rhonda said she came to IPS this year after 31 years of teaching at Westfield High School.
"Because I have always lived in Indianapolis, I felt that it was important for me to teach in the city that I live in," Rhonda said.
Across town, Mr. Steve Adams is a long-time social studies teacher at Arsenal Tech High School.
"I enjoy working with the teenagers," Steve said. "I find identity in what I do. I am a teacher by nature."
Steve and Rhonda also wear other hats: husband and wife, respectively.
The two educators met years ago at Indiana University while pursuing education degrees.
"I think one of the things that drew us together was our love of education and wanting to work with the teenage population and high school students," Rhonda said.
Now, Rhonda says working at IPS means a little more as Indianapolis natives and as husband and wife.
"I feel like I finally came home," Rhonda said. "After 31 years of teaching in another city, I'm finally home where I belong."
For the Adams family, IPS is also generational.
"I have grandparents and great-grandparents who went to IPS schools," Steve said. "That connection, it's good to keep it moving forward and feel like I'm part of the reason that it is moving forward."
For Steve and Rhonda, it's not only about the past. It's also about the future of education.
The Adams' two daughters now work as local educators, too. The oldest, Ariana, is also an IPS teacher.
"When she told us she was transitioning to teaching, we were both like, 'What took you so long? Of course, you are!'" Rhonda said.
"Education has really been the foundation for everything in our family," said Ariana, who works at IPS' Step Ahead Academy. "A lot of it was from my parents. They were very involved in their respective schools, and that motivated me to become the teacher that I am today."
Just like her father, Ariana now teaches social studies.
"I always loved the subject and the fact that you can integrate multiple subject areas in social studies," Ariana said.
"I have always been an IPS history teacher, and it is interesting that now she has gone in that same direction," Steve said.
"It was really a proud moment for me when, in her second year of teaching, she was named teacher of the year at her school," Rhonda said.
The Adams family said there are perks to working a similar job, like planning vacations, for example.
"Same breaks," Steve said. "Same time off."
Plus, Rhonda said her family can lean on each other in the afternoons after school.
"It is like a teachers' meeting every day around the dinner table," Rhonda said with a laugh.
Despite working in different schools, each educator shared a similar answer for why they continue to teach.
"Teaching is hard," Ariana said. "Teaching is worth it, though, because you are impacting a child. What keeps me coming back every day is knowing that these students succeed and seeing a small success."
"Even though the students have changed, and the dynamics and the demographics have changed, it's really good to be part of it in the long journey. Kids need to learn, and I know that I can do it," Steve said.
"I love it here," Rhonda said. "I also love the teachers and the administration that I'm working with, and I've never felt more valued as a teacher."