>> Prior to teaching, I went to the University of Maryland and I graduated from there
with my Bachelor's degree and I was going to go and I did go into the corporate world thinking
that I was going to probably make a lot of money and do great things.
Well, I'm not sure I did either.
I know I didn't make a lot of money and I'm not sure that I did anything super-great.
I did work in a social science company that we did help write instruments for social surveys
and stuff, so I kind of felt really good about that, and I realized, for me,
that I wasn't happy working in an environment where I couldn't help people.
So I had children of my own, I have three children of my own, and as luck would have it,
all three of them have learning differences in different ways.
So going through the public school system, I was very dissatisfied with the type
of services he was either supposed to get or, you know, could have gotten and didn't,
so I became very active, an educational advocate in that regard, and so I thought:
This is my compelling story, because after --
you know, my son did graduate and he's a college graduate, he's working full-time,
and he's certainly fine, and fortunately, he didn't struggle with intellectual challenges,
but more he had dysgraphia and things like that, that, you know, the written word was difficult
for him, but he overcame that, and through diligence and through patience,
I learned how to work with students who have some differences.
So that was my compelling story, because every classroom I walk in, I look for my child.