So I started out many many years ago as a junior in high school. One of the guys that I went to church with, Tad, took his artistic talents to Indy to attend the University of Indianapolis. I found soon after that and a few visits that I also wanted to attend the great U of I!
I had considered journalism early on and really thought that writing is the direction I wanted, but I had always been intrigued by Elementary Education. So I decided early that this is the route that I wanted to go. So I changed my major halfway into my freshman year to be an Elementary Education major. So for two more years I took classes and put in the hours that you are supposed to do with an elementary school that the university was affiliated with. I always struggled with the academic portion of things, just barely scraping by. I always performed better in the school and classroom. I found out the second semester of my junior year, that I was not eligible to continue to do my grades not being good enough. You were required a 2.5 to get into the actual student teaching part of the program. My GPA was 2.49. I petitioned a couple of times arguing that i felt my field experience should count for something. My petition was of course denied for the final time. That day would be the lowest day to date in my life. I sprinted across campus, balling my eyes out, calling my mom and wanting to be at home in Elkhart with my family. As the ole adage says, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
I finished out my college career as a PE non-teaching major, which basically meant that I could work at a day camp of some kind. Not really what I had planned for, so I moved back to Elkhart, with mom and dad, and I tried to figure out a way to STILL get into teaching. I prayed daily and leaned on my relationship with God, to help me through those days that I questioned a lot.
I was fortunate that an old childhood friend, Matt Vogelzang, hired me to work for his families company working with van conversion parts and RV windshields. My ear was tied to a phone for 9 hours a day, and trying to talk down irate customers because they could not tell the difference between a short wheel base and a regular wheel base on a conversion van and some how it was our fault that they were sent the wrong side boards. One of our ladies in the computer technology division was talking with me about what I wanted to do in life. I said working at a 24 hr camp of some kind would be cool.
I went to work the next day with a list of camps, and this is how I came about Eckerd Youth Alternatives. It was a job interview in the woods in the mountains of NC in the middle of a snow storm living in the woods with the campers, that my next job came available. I was not really digging the weather, because I reasoned with myself as I was packing that NC had beaches and they don't get snow, so I brought NO winter gear with me. It was a 72 hour visit. So for the first 71 and a half hours into the visit after having to sleep inside because the weather was so bad waking up with an eye swollen shut by a spider bite, that I was pretty much done. Not doing this, you can take this job and shove it. Then Ch. Jeremy Sheridan (Mr. SEC, Alabama guy) came to pull me out of group and take me back to the airport. As i was getting ready to walk out of group one of the campers said, and I quote, "You aint taking the job you fucking fat ass, your a pussy" and as I was walking away, i turned and kindly told the young lad, "Your on! I will see your ass, in two weeks!" (Yeah I know, I did not always have the best tact when dealing with campers, Nissa has told me that many of times when she dealt with me as a family worker.)
So once again, my teaching life was put on hold to do something I had never imagined. Packing up shop and heading to Lowgap NC, for training then on to Wilkesboro NC to work and back to Lowgap NC. So from 2000 to 2008, when I found my future wife, I lived in the woods working with at risk youth, getting cussed out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I found that I was really good at working with at risk youth. It just felt natural for me. I lived in the woods and moved up though the ranks to become a Program Director, and if camp were still camp I would maybe still be there. However, the wusification of America has put a stop to camps saying that young teenage boys living in wood structures in the winter that they built themselves was inhumane and they started closing them down one by one, until camp pretty much evaporated.
Nissa gave me an ultimatum, that if I were going to date her long term that I needed to find a job that gave me a little more freedom that being on call 24-7. So we packed our bags and moved to Beverly- Salem that is Winston-Salem, NC. I knew that it was now my time to move on to the actual school teaching portion of life. I had an excellent partner that new how to motivate me. I applied at two high schools for assistant positions while I went BACK to school to get my teaching certification. I was actually looking to get into EC to work with At risk youth with behavioral and emotional issues. My first interview coincidently enough was at Southwest High School where I applied for an Occupational Course of Study assistant. The interview went well, but was told that she needed to interview more people to get the right fit. So the next day I interviewed at Eastern Guilford High School as a Life Skills class assistant. This is where I got my introduction to working with students with special needs. Can we say that this was the greatest decision of my life! It was working with this population for three years that I knew that, this was the position I wanted to land as a teacher. In June of 2011 I met up with the same supervisor at Southwest to interview for the open Life Skills position. I had completed all course work, but still did not have all my Praxis tests done and passed, but the interview went really well, because she called me the next day and offered me the job.
Of course there was set backs in this process, but every day I continued to pray about my situation. I knew that eventually God would lead me home. I am not claiming to be the greatest Christian in the world, but I rely on my strong relationship with God to get me through the valleys. It is at Southwest that I found the most amazing teaching family, lead by an extremely supportive and amazing administration.
There really is so much more to it, but I gave myself the time frame of Nissa watching Downtown Abby to complete this blog post, but I hit the good stuff. Thanks for reading!! Peace Love and Jeeps!!
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