I am an educator because I believe that our children are the future. Having survived a civil war, I know how important our youth is, they are the key and the future is in their hands. I came to the U.S. devastated that all I knew was no longer there. My home, friends, my school, and my family were a figment of distant past. I share this not to gain sympathy, but because my character has been shaped by these events. I was educated by a system that indoctrinated me to be follower, and in some ways I became handicapped. When I came to the United States I had to learn how to become a critical thinker, how to make choices, and most importantly how to believe in myself. The professors at Case Western Reserve University taught me how to become an individual. At this juncture, I realized that teaching was the path I would embark on.

Once I achieved my goal and became a teacher I found that I related the most with students who have lost their drive, students who saw school as the pointless exercise of adults. In them I saw that look of heplessness that I once had. Reaching these students, and making any lesson that I was assigned to teach meaningful became my objective. I end each day asking myself; Did my lesson matter? As a special educator I have been faced with many challenging students. But, with time and persistence I found that these challenges are a communication tool, a cry for help on their part. The key is finding what type of a learner they are and what is relevant to them. I had one student who only cared about skateboarding and that was my opening to his world. A connection was made with math and after the spark occurred the doors into the world of learning became wide open. This formula applies to all students and without it schools will remain an abyss, a place without purpose. These are the reasons that have compelled me to become an educator.