Jim Scherer and Ruth Alexander

Jim Scherer and Ruth Alexander.  Those names may not mean much to you but these two people  had a powerful impact on my college career.  You see, my SAT scores were too low to be an athlete!!  Yup, that’s right!  I couldn’t get into college upon graduation from high school.  So I got a great job but always yearned to get a college degree. 

I worked with Jim Scherer, a wonderful man, who saw my potential.  He talked to me extensively about getting my degree.  Jim gave me the courage to contact the University of NC at Greensboro about that very possibility.

Ruth Alexander was the adviser for Adult Students.  She set an appointment for the two of us to meet and discuss my future.  Since my scores were so low, yet my high school transcript reflected at 3.5 GPA, Ruth gave me a chance to attend UNC-G for one semester – on a probation   basis.

My requirements?  To make As in my first 12 hours of classes.  I knew I could do that!  I’d make her proud of me. She’d see that I was worth the risk she took on me! 

So I took four classes my first semester while still working a 40 hour week job.  And, I made As in each class.

I brought the report card to Ruth Alexander and showed her my results.  She jumped up from behind that big desk of hers, gave me a hug, and sent me on my way to get my BA in Speech Communications.

What would I have done without the encouragement of Jim Scherer and Ruth Alexander?  I would have never had the courage to even ask if I had a chance at a college degree.  May everyone be as fortunate as I was to have these two great encouragers in their lives!

Classroom Technology

By the time kids enter college, they have played an average of 10,000 hours of video games, have sent over 200,000 emails/texts, talked 10,000 hours on phones, and have looked at 20,000 hours of television. Technology is an extension of them and they expect immediate results for everything.  And, let’s face it – technology is so convenient.

But what are school systems and colleges doing to keep up with technology?  Are they providing instruction for teachers and professors on how to use the technology they have available? Why do we, in 2011, expect a student to sit and listen to a talking head teacher for 50 – 90 minutes without having any interaction?  Why?  Because schools are woefully behind the curve on teching up the classrooms. 

Look at this graphic from 2008.  As you can determine in 2008 it looked bleak for techno savvy students and I imagine today it is even worse.

For the first time in the history of education, students know more than teachers about technology and teachers often have students instructing them on how to provide more interactive classes. 

In my opinion, if we are not keeping up students ways of experiencing the best education available, they will lose interest with their ever so sharp minds and just check out mentally as teachers struggle to teach in the same method they taught in the 1930s.

My Parents

My parents were the first teachers in my life. Their lives were exemplary of honesty, integrity, attainable goals, and a fun loving lifestyle.  They loved Greg, Conrad and Laura and made sure  we received loving disciple to keep us on the straight and narrow path.  I was blessed to have a wonderful family!

My parents met when my dad was 17 and my mom was 12.  She was throwing a baseball on the roof of her house and retrieving it as it rolled back into her baseball glove.  My dad walked by, saw her and his life was never the same.  This 17 year old young man walked up to my mom and told her they were going to be sweethearts.  Mom thought he was a cutie pie so she told him she’d go along with the plan.  Of course, my grandparents had no idea their precious daughter was a girlfriend to anyone – especially at 17 year old! 

My dad’s love at first sight encouraged him to write a pledge to my mom within days of meeting her.  He wrote that he promised to marry her in September 1940.  And, you know what?  They got married on September 21, 1940.  Today would have been the 71^st anniversary of these two amazing people.  Happy Anniversary to you two!

School Buses

I am amazed at the number of kids who do not ride school buses.  In my community, 50% of children do not use bus transportation.  Now, in a time when we have high gas prices and we talk about going green…why would we not encourage students to take advantage of the stop in front of your house convenience?

Parents today have made the choice to drive their kids to school and does that ever change the traffic flow once school starts. Don’t get me wrong.  I love driving in the summer with no buses on the road at all.  But, when each parent shows up on the road with one student in their vehicle, using gallons of gas to make sure their one child has a personal taxi ride to their destination – it just really makes no sense to me.

Why back when we were kids, our parents would tell us, “You’re lucky you have a school bus to ride!”  Because, you know, they had to walk 5 miles to school, uphill both ways, in 12 inches of snow…with no shoes.

I have said it before and I’ll continue to say it – we only give lip service to going green in America.  We waste more gasoline now more than ever and this is just one example of the waste!

NC Community College system

I worked for the NC Community College system for two years and it was a very rewarding experience.  I have said for years that North Carolina’s best kept secrets are their community colleges. 

The NC Community Colleges have saved many lives and offered promising careers!  Whether it is to continue the education of a recent high school grad, to re-educate displaced workers, to provide training to take the GED, offer online High School degrees, promote continuing education classes which provide training for local industry and corporate clients, or provide online Blackboard and Ed2Go classes – the community college literally helps anyone and everyone live their dreams. And, it is affordable for everyone! 

I love the community colleges in North Carolina.  I have spoken on 48 of their campuses in my speaking career.  Each college has its own unique personality, dedicated staffs and wonderful students.  I salute them today as North Carolinas’s Best Kept Secret.  Help me get out the word!