I've always admired teachers. Through my years of school, I can pinpoint wonderful teachers who had an enormous impact on my life. When I became a teacher, my admiration became adoration. It brought to light the yeoman’s work teachers do for little praise, a pittance of pay and a lot of stress and sacrifice.

During my three years in the classroom, I learned as much as I taught. The teacher became the student. In the best classrooms teaching and learning are reciprocal. One of the most important lessons for me was gaining a deeper appreciation for the value of teachers.

I’m no longer in the classroom, but I hope to continue to teach as much as I learn.

I’m excited to be a part of The Studer Institute. I joined the Institute because I believe in its purpose and goal: to improve significantly the quality of lives for area residents. That’s a lofty goal, but one worth pursuing and dedicating my energy and efforts to help accomplish. Like most people, I desire to have purpose, do worthwhile work and make a difference. I believe The Studer Institute is the right place to do work that impacts people and makes a difference in the community. As a teacher, I was able to touch the lives of children and, in some ways, make a difference. Dedicated and diligent teachers make a difference every day they walk into a classroom. It bothers them when people say they are incompetent and lazy, and when they get blamed for almost every problem, from failing students and schools to dysfunctional families and disengaged communities. Teachers work hard to see the potential in even their most challenging students. They realize that the right attitude and an occasional pat on the back can make a difference. Becoming a good teacher is not magic. It takes a delicate balance of passion, energy and creativity. The best teachers impart high levels of creativity and imagination to grab their students’ attention. Once they have it, it is art in motion witnessing students in full participation in the learning experience. Good teachers know and understand their curriculum and students. They know how to create a learning incubator. This demands a scientific understanding of how the brain learns and how to engage students. But it takes an artist’s touch to create a powerful and profound learning environment.

Having a school-aged child helped me become a better teacher. I tried to look at students from both sides of the desk. I began to ask how I would want my son to be taught. I started to give as much as I want my son to receive. Before I chastised or corrected a student, I’d take a breath and ask, “You’re a father, how would you react?” I realized that I needed to get to know each student as the unique person he or she is. I needed to take the time to see each student’s particular combination of habits and gifts. Imagine if every child had a teacher who recognized her uniqueness every day. That would be a powerful place for learning to take place. Teachers can and do affect lives for a lifetime. They never truly know where their influence stops. I’ve never forgotten the impact my first-grade teacher had on my life. I am forever grateful to my high school English teacher who recognized in me a latent talent for writing and pushed me to pursue journalism in college. Or the retired teacher who, while subbing one day, admired my hard work and drove me around the state of South Carolina to visit colleges and universities. I can’t get my head around the contradiction that places the utmost importance in education but underestimates the value of teachers. Numerous studies show that the quality education students get is proportionately related to the quality of their teachers. I worked with amazing teachers. They labored under difficult circumstances and monumental pressures. Anyone who believes that teachers have it easy working 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. has never spent a day in a classroom. They often arrive at sunup and don’t leave until sundown, juggling multiple duties, from managing classrooms to making late-evening home visits. They have to deal with hungry and homeless students, students with anger issues, mental and physical disabilities, and students whose parents are in prison or nowhere to be found. I saw teachers use their money to buy supplies for their classrooms or bring extra snacks for the kids who didn’t get breakfast each morning. Despite the master teachers’ best efforts, our schools still are falling short and students are failing to make the grade. There are myriad reasons for the problems, but the sad reality is more than 35 percent of high school seniors don’t graduate in Escambia County. It’s especially dismal for black students, as nearly half of them don’t finish school. The beginning is no better than the end. Too many children enter kindergarten unable to spell their names. Some are so poorly prepared for school they don’t know a single letter of the alphabet, can’t speak in complete sentences and face a dismal future without a miraculous intervention and turnaround. I’ve discovered over the years that no matter where we live, we all are neighbors in the human race of life. It takes all of us working together to make our cities and communities better and brighter for all of us.

I’m grateful to have left a mark in the classroom and I’m excited about this new opportunity to do as the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Go where there is no path and leave a trail.” The Studer Institute is going into uncharted territory. We’re not sure where the path may lead. We’re not even sure what we may find along the way. But with courage, conviction and commitment we seek to go where there is no path and leave a trail. I hope you will come along with us.