78 Photo Essay: Lorin O’Rear
Secondary Education Student, The University of Alabama
Words by McKenzie Wade | Image by Blakeney Clouse
From a young age, it was evident that Lorin O’Rear was drawn towards the arts.
“Dad tells me stories of when I was a kid,” Lorin laughs. “I would be in the grocery store and I would sing to people.”
That singing talent eventually led to solo performances at First Methodist Church in Jasper and being involved in band, show choir, and theater in high school. Through the years, Lorin’s love for the arts continued to grow.
As she began to explore career paths, however, she realized teaching was the perfect choice. “I had a lot of female role models growing up that were teachers and were there for me,” she says. “I always wanted to do something that could give back to people, so giving back to children and the future generations of our society felt like a good job to me.”
Lorin graduated from Jasper High in 2020 and enrolled at The University of Alabama, where she is majoring in Secondary Education with a concentration in English. Additionally, she is minoring in theatre and hopes to become involved in a theatre program like the one in Jasper—a program that impacted her in a special way. “Every teacher I had in the arts, I always really looked up to,” she explains.
After graduating from Alabama, Lorin plans to further her education and obtain a master’s degree. Her dreams for teaching are focused towards impacting students’ lives. “The one goal is to hope that kids have better lives in their careers, better lives in their families,” she says. “The goal is to help kids, and that is so cool to me.”
Success can be defined in different ways. For Lorin, the idea is quite simple. “I see success as something that is not really material,” she says. “I would see my success in the people I impacted. How much did I give to the world? How much was I able to serve?”
With this mindset, there is no doubt that Lorin will go on to impact the next generation—just like her teachers did for her. 78