My road to
teaching has been long. It began on a
hot July day in Dallas, Texas when I was born the third child of a Presbyterian
minister and a teacher. Only three years
later, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where I spent the next eighteen
years of my life. I was raised,
surrounded by an affluent community, in a family that teetered financially on
the edge of the haves and have nots, but until I was much older I never
realized it. Values were strong in my
parents’ family.
I was a restless
high school student with fond memories of my elementary and middle school
days. I didn’t have much use for
adolescence and my drive for adulthood committed me to gather enough credits by
my junior year that I graduated one year ahead of my class. It was that or drop out, so I figured out the rules to the game and moved on. I attempted college to please my parents, but
soon realized a degree in business was not for me. The trail I blazed made me a licensed
paramedic, where I was able to apply my love for helping people. I also found the love of a transplanted
midwestern Social Worker working in the local emergency room.
Once married, we returned to her roots in Michigan where I realized that to afford our dreams of parenthood and still have a career helping others, it was time to hang up my stethoscope and pick up the books. I returned to college in 2000 with my own motivation, on my own dime. I was bent on becoming a teacher without sinking my family in debt, so I attained a position with a global marketing firm while going to school year round. Ironically over the next seven years, I worked my way into business leadership, but maintained my determination to teach. During this time we had two children, renovated a house, finished the teaching degree, sold the house, moved to a new one, and both changed careers…and we still like each other! I soon enrolled in graduate school, realizing that public education needs two things to reach the promise of its potential: leadership and change. In 2011, I earned a master degree in K-12 Education Administration and decided to take a sabbatical from the classroom to learn from other teachers about how children learn and how we instruct and structure ourselves for teaching, as a Transformational/Instructional Coach, then interim principal.
In 2015 I toiled over the choice to apply for a permanent principal position or return to my heart as a teacher. Given a tumultuous political environment and a keen, professional staff to serve, I took a leap of faith, interviewed and was hired as a middle school principal. I miss having my own classroom,but with my family's support and a handful of daily prayers, I keep focus on living this dream!
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Updated November 8, 2015 |