Note from Carole

Why am I transitioning to a new career?

Leaving the classroom after thirty-seven (37) years has not been an easy decision. I have loved just about everything there is about being a teacher. When I examine the core of what drew me and kept me in the profession, it was my love for people and the desire to help them realize their potentials and reach for their dreams. The payoff was seeing many of them take what they had learned and go out into the world to reach for their dreams.

Because I have had the opportunity to come alongside many students to help them clarify what they wanted their futures to be, I have had the chance to explore the process of college admission in great depth. I love that there has always been something new to learn about the subject, and I thoroughly enjoyed the times when I was able to empower students with the knowledge needed to navigate successfully through the maze of identifying what it was they wanted to do with their lives, applying to college, and heading off to participate in the exciting world of post-secondary education. An added bonus has been having former students have return to share where their educational paths have taken them in life.

I firmly believe that education is the key to success for not only the individual, but also our society.   I’m not alone in that idea; consider the following powerful statements.

• “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.” Aristotle
• “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” George Washington Carver
• “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”  Benjamin Franklin
• “He who opens a school door closes a prison.” Victor Hugo
• “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
  Mahatma Gandhi
• “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
  Nelson Mandela
• “If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. He needs education to turn him around.” Jim Rohn
• “The beautiful thing about learning is no one can take it away from you.”   B.B. King
• “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”  Maya Angelou
• “The illiterate of the future will not be the person who does not read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”  Alvin Toffler

All that being said, the process of trying to figure out how to identify and then pursue an educational path after high school that is right for each person is not an easy one. There are many twists and turns, roadblocks, hills and valleys, and confusing signs along the way. I believe that is why so many people get lost or decide that it’s not worth the effort to figure it all out.

So what has drawn me to my new role of being an educational coach (often known as an independent educational consultant)? It is the desire to de-mystify that road for people—to help them realize their potential and reach for their dreams. That goal is no different from what it has always been.

What an exciting adventure awaits! I hope many of you will decide to join us as we move in ForwarDirections together.