I tried my best during my young adult life to avoid being a teacher. Although, growing up in Chester schools, I adored my instructors. They were often my best friends - rock stars. I loved my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Knox, so much I turned down the half-day option, so I could spend the entire day with her—much to my mom's hurt feelings.  Later at South Side, Mrs. Debbie Rushing had me perform a song called "Come Out of Your Shell" during a class play. That moment changed my life as since that time I treasured class presentations and sharing knowledge with my fellow students. At school, I was surrounded with individuals who wanted to enrich my mind and expand my world.  I loved my classmates as we all had such different backgrounds and at school we shared our mutual hopes and dreams. Life had meaning and purpose. Other than studying dinosaurs, I was already thinking about being a teacher or some type of performer. However, when I got to high school, my perception of the profession changed.  I noticed how limited my favorite teachers were by the educational system itself.  It seemed the system didn't do much to reward the extra hours they spent helping children who might not have any help anywhere else in the world; all the system really paid much attention to was being sure certain boxes could be checked on the right paper work. I wanted to help change the world and teaching started to seem too limiting to do that.

            While in college though, my favorite high school teacher, Mr. Worthy, invited me to come back as a special guest to teach a lesson.  The day sped past me as I discussed with his students what I was learning at Clemson in one of my classes about the Belgium Genocide in the Congo. I had students singing songs, performing, and engaging in learning about this horrible atrocity.  Mr. Worthy said students who often slept were sitting front row and motivated as I discussed how similar events were still transpiring in our world. This experience is ultimately what motivated me to not settle into my video-production company job but instead apply to Chester High School for my first job in education through the PACE program. While it felt I was just a number at Clemson, in Chester I could make a real difference in the lives of young men and women at a time in life when it perhaps means the most. I found that so many students just needed someone to believe in them, the same way my Chester teachers believed in me.

            Teaching was everything I imagined it would be and even more wonderful. I took pride that my students were engaged and enjoyed coming to class. Unfortunately, I also discovered what my favorite teachers warned me about was true; my innovation in the classroom wasn’t met with enthusiasm from the administration at the time. As a young teacher, I certainly welcomed constructive feedback as I believe everyone is always on a journey towards getting better. However, rather than getting positive support for how to build on my strengths, it seemed I mostly got generic comments trying to push me towards a more traditional classroom.  This was particularly disheartening given the setup for failure I was put in as a first year teacher with nearly forty students in some classes, many of them repeaters who needed more individual attention not less, and not even enough books for a classroom set. The principal that year was actually fired before that school year was even over, but the entire situation left me with a bleak view of what was really possible in the classroom. I therefore decided to leave the education profession and return to my video business.

I had a successful production company that included producing a local news show for TruVista Cable and even an independent film that ETV picked up to air annually.  I won a Telly award for a documentary I worked on as well. However, I still felt a separation from not working directly with people anymore.  I thought I would follow in my family’s footsteps and go to medical school as maybe that would allow me more freedom and platform to make a difference in the world.  Once in medical school, I passed the board exam to start my clinical years and that is when I realized teaching was my calling.  During internal medicine rotation, I would talk to patients for hours about their lives more so than their lab results, which unlike my classmates didn't interest me at all. Also, during this time, many of my former students would contact me to thank me for believing in them and let me know the positive things in life they were doing now. I shared my concerns with my poet friend Dr. Vivian Ayers whose poetry centers on the power of self-realization and expression. She convinced me I could help change lives for the better by doing what I do best through the arts and education not medicine.  After all, she credits Brainerd Institute in Chester and its teachers as one of the largest contributors to her and her family’s tremendous success in life. Yes, helping someone improve his or her life physically as a doctor is wonderful, but to help someone awaken his or her mind to the wonder and potential of life through education is priceless! Without hesitation I left medical school and went back to teaching.  The first place I could get employed was Darlington High School.         
            Darlington was great – but Chester is home.  I have roots here, I know the people here, and thus, I wanted to get back to where I could make the biggest difference. Once I stepped back into the classroom, I never once questioned again if I should be a doctor.  Of course, people around me generally had the opposite opinion for what I should have done with my life.  This revealed to me that one of the problems with education in our country is it simply isn’t highly respected. If people didn't say it directly, their reactions spoke for them. The same people who would fall all over themselves when I told them I was in training to become a doctor, would at best give cliché responses when I told them I chose to teach instead.  In fact, many would even ask why in the world I would walk away from being a doctor to "just be a teacher.” Many would say I should at least teach college rather than “just high school.” I know from experience that great educators are not “just teachers”—they are life changers and thus world changers. The treasures discovered in classrooms across America, the self-realized student, goes on to shine that light outward upon the world.
           I strongly believe that my greatest accomplishment in education is believing that each student is a miracle beyond my comprehension and simply helping them recognize the wonder that is in their own hearts. When someone finds intrinsic motivation, then he or she becomes a passionate life-long learner. I see this same transformation taking place now in my students at Lewisville High School which keeps me passionate about what I’m doing. Being part of life-changing transformations every day is why I love my career in education. I can think of no greater job more meaningful and needed to make positive, authentic changes for our world.