-: I have fond memories of all of my professors,
believe it or not.
I was actually a Latin American Caribbean Affairs major
before I switched to elementary education,
and there was nothing about my Latin American Caribbean
Affairs classes that would have driven anybody
out of the major.
It was a great experience.
For me, it just became very apparent
that the elementary education department
really could send me on the trajectory
where I wanted to go with leadership.
And so all of my education professors,
Dr. Hewitt was just amazing through my internship.
Every day that I would come home and complain
or come to class and complain,
he gave me the best advice, and that is,
Mark, your internship is gonna be
just like your teaching experience,
and that is, wherever you end up,
you need to jump in with two feet.
You need to give it everything you have,
and the experience will give back to you.
Well, that was something that actually stuck with me,
not just as an intern, but as a classroom teacher,
as an assistant principal, as a principal in elementary,
middle and now high school, and it will be a mantra
that stays with me the rest of my life,
and it will be something that I will
convey to my daughter when she pursues
where she wants to go to college,
which happens to be Rollins now,
but she's seven, so I don't know if that will change.
But I hope not, because if she has half the experience
that I had, she's gonna end up doing great.