Me. Some background.

As I mentioned awhile back, I have wanted to be a teacher since my junior year in high school, when the late (and great) Mr. John Calmus was my AP History teacher. He had flair and a passion for teaching and made History seem relevant. Unfortunately, he passed away suddenly when I was a Senior. His funeral was the first that I ever attended. When I am finally standing in front of my very own classroom, I will think of him. Hopefully, I will not cry.

I left Westlake High School in Ohio to attend the University of Denver to study History. I did not fit in very well, as much of DU was made up of Theater Arts majors and Hotel Management people. Somewhere along the line, I read some books by Edward Abbey, the "Monkey Wrench Gang," and "The Journey Home." This convinced me that I needed to be a Wildlife Biologist. I was wrong, of course, as I am not really an outdoor person.

However, I left DU and went to Colorado State University the next year, to study Animals and Birds. I did not do well. Soon, I was faltering in my classes and losing my way. I eventually dropped out of school.

Meeting some people in a bar one night throwing darts, I happened to mention that I was needing work. One very nice lady, Marleen, said, "I run a group home for the Developmentally Disabled. I need a morning staff person, why don't you come by?" This was early May, 1986. I worked with the Developmentally Disabled from May 5, 1986 until May 30, 2001. 15 years. It became a career. Not the career that I wanted, but a career.

I eventually started my own business serving the Developmentally Disabled in Weld County, Colorado. The business was called SupportPeople, LLC. I had a staff of up to 24 people, serving as many as 25 clients. I prided myself on hiring the best for the job, no matter the circumstances. Of my employees, I had five people with advanced degrees, four employees with disabilities and one that was in her 80's.

Working with that population is rewarding, but difficult. I eventually had to give up the business when we moved from the area. This may have been a bad decision, but it has led me to where I am today.

Along the way, I went to the University of Phoenix to get a Master's Degree of Business Administration in Technology Management. This had helped me run my business and give me a deep appreciation of all things capitalist.

I then tried a number of other things, such as being an Investment Counselor, a Sales Manager and so forth. Shannon (my wife) and I had a talk (similar to Jay's talk with his wife.) We decided that I should be a teacher. She pushed me to look into the prospect, although I thought it was impossible.

I first applied with the state of Colorado to receive an Alternative Teacher Licensure, which would allow me to teach Elementary Education based upon my schooling and work experience. I applied to 15-20 school openings in the Spring of 2003. I heard nothing from anyone and was very discouraged. Of course, the teacher job market is pretty tight in Fort Collins, so I am now not surprised that I could not find work with no teaching experience whatsoever.

Shannon had heard from one of her clients that if one wanted to become a teacher mid-career, they should look into "Project Promise" at CSU. I said, "yeah, whatever." (Remember, I was disillusioned at this point.) She looked into it for me. She called Ali and talked with her about the program and got me the paperwork and prodded me until I got everything done. In my own tardy fashion, I turned in the PP Application on the last possible day and 4:00 pm. I was pretty sure that I would hear nothing more.

Ali called me two days later to set up an interview. I met with Ali and Sandy. The interview was exhilarating, as I thought that it went well and that I might be accepted to the program.

I was. Here I am now. Wow!

Unfortunately, joining Project Promise is tough. You are pretty much chained to school and teaching for a full 10 months and cannot work. This was going to be hard on our family. Fortunately, Shannon's boss has agreed to allow her to work flex-time hours so that she can stay at home during the day. My parents have also agreed to assist with some of the financial shortcomings and provide a small-interest loan to pay tuition. Without their help, this would not have been possible.