PALMETTO, Fla. — William Coleman has been a teacher for more than 20 years. He’s spent six of them at Manatee School for the Arts. He teaches chorus and music theater.

“Everything I’ve done in my life has led me to being here,” said Coleman.

He calls teaching the thrill of his life.

“I love when students get the look in their eye that says they learned something new, they learned something about themselves new. I love working with them because it is a joy,” said Coleman.

Coleman finds joy in every part of his role as an educator and he wants his students to feel that in his class.

“I work on making this classroom a safe space for everybody who enters. It’s really important that students feel like they can explore the arts and be confident even if they may have no skill to those that are very skilled,” said Coleman.

He says connecting with his students is a crucial part of his job.

“I have a story that I can tell about them which means that we have spent time in the classroom building a relationship,” said Coleman.

Coleman says he loves spending each day with his students and working at a school dedicated to the arts.

“We live and we celebrate the arts, all art forms, in order to teach us how to be better humans. And to me, I don’t think there’s any greater joy than that,” said Coleman.

Coleman says he’s working toward taking his students to Puerto Rico in June for an opportunity to work with an international choral director. He says they’re fundraising right now for that big trip.