(JOPLIN, Mo.) Her grandfather is a teacher, so is her grandmother and her other grandmother. Now a Joplin student is hoping to follow in their footsteps and teach a her alma mater one day.

“Pretty much always known that I wanted to be a teacher,” says Joplin High School Junior Katelynn Rutledge.

And she has a very specific plan for that career.

“Be an English teacher hopefully here a Joplin High someday,” she says.

Rutledge has great role models: three grandparents who are teachers; one on campus at Franklin Tech.

“And as I spend so much time with her before school, after school,” Rutledge says.

Katelynn’s plan includes a degree at Missouri Southern. And she’s determined to return to JHS on the other side of the desk.

“And I think high school has, you know a little bit of maturity there, and they’re like almost, you get to help them up like that last final stretch before they leave for college,” she says.

JHS Principal Dr. Steve Gilbreth says it’s getting tougher and tougher to hire teachers and adds a JHS graduate like Katelynn would be a welcome addition to the staff.

“We’ll take great teachers anywhere we can get, but especially when we get the opportunity to get somebody who is local and will come back and be a part of Joplin,” Gilbreth says.