In my previous life as a business professional, I  worked with technology.  Sure, I was intimately familiar with your basic office suite of products from spreadsheets  to  word processing and presentation software.  I could even un-jam a printer (usually) and (if I absolutely had to) I could change the toner cartridge in the office copying machine.  Heck, at one point I even held a few technical certifications for the computer projection equipment that I marketed.  But never in all my wildest dreams did I think that I could have anything to do with robots.  

Although I knew that the MIT's and Carnegie-Mellon's of the world were working on developing robots,  I thought of robotics as more sci-fi than reality.  To my great surprise and with  great apprehension, my perspective dramatically changed during my student teaching experience (ST) at Abington Heights Middle School in Clarks Summit, PA.   Going  into ST as a Business & Tech. Ed student teacher, I thought I'd be paired up with a mentor to teach Accounting, Economics or Marketing, i.e., one of the pillars of business education.  I figured that if I was lucky, I might even get paired up with someone who'd guide me on teaching students to code (computer programming; how exciting!).  Imagine my shock when I learned that my teacher mentor, Mr. Dan Gwynn,  taught only one class - Robotics.

I freaked out. I  knew nothing about robots, was sure that I was being set up for failure and struggled to change my situation.  However, following earnest and anxious discussions with my mentor were I voiced my concern, I decided to stick with Mr. Gwynn; a decision that has made a world of positive difference in my life.   Once I graduated, I did indeed start by teaching the (now mundane)  core business topics, e.g., personal finance but my first BIG BREAK came along, it was my ST with Robotics that propelled to Great Heights.