Wayne County Schools

I should have listened to my teachers, the many who encouraged me to apply for the NC Teaching Fellows Program, each seeing something in me that I did not see at the time. But the lure of flashing lights and a call of duty to my fellow citizens drew me down a path of service that seemed, at the time, more exciting. As a Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy, I enforced laws involving juveniles and investigated crimes committed against minors. My job was funded through a Federal grant called Amer-I-Can, whose president and founder is Jim Brown, the greatest football player of all time. I worked with Mr. Brown to start a program at Greene Central High School to teach at-risk youth. For the grant, we had to create a curriculum which taught stories of American history meant to be inspirational and influence students to choose an industrious path in life. History is my love, so writing the curriculum was a joy. The administration created the roster, consisting of the twenty students with the most discipline referrals and worst attendance, three of which I had arrested. Seeing the roster, one teacher remarked, “You’re gonna need that gun on your side.” The first day I planned to dazzle them with my grasp of American history only to have a student stand up and curse at me in the first five minutes of class. It was not easy, but I was baptized by fire, and quickly learned my teaching philosophy which has shaped my entire career: kids don’t care how much you know; they want to know how much you care. And when children know you care, they’ll go the extra mile for you and for themselves. I stopped carrying a gun on my side and built a rapport with each student as I brought them through the tales of American history. It was in that class that I realized my true calling. I would like to think that I forever changed those students, but in truth, they forever changed me. I enrolled at East Carolina University to get my teaching certification and have never looked back.