The above saying is one that I have used for myself for almost thirty years. After marrying young, beginning a family, and working full-time in corporate America, I always knew I would return to school to pursue self-actualization. I always knew that there was more to life than what I had experienced so far. In my early thirties, and with a family and two school-age children, I woke up thinking "If I don't ever do anything, I won't have ever done anything." I wanted to experience more and contribute more over my lifetime. This has been a mantra for me (my family is tired of hearing it!), as I have encountered opportunities and pursued some as well. I always knew that I wanted to live more.

As I look back over my fifteen years teaching at Edmonds College, I am struck by how fortunate I am to have the job that I do. Finding my true calling, teaching, in my forties was a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the lives of others, and spread the word that education really does transform lives, all while being happy doing it. My last seven years teaching at Edmonds College, have been at the Corrections campus. I knew from the moment I met the students there that this would be my place to make the most difference. I am happy to meet the students where they are and to illustrate through example and instruction that it is okay to be smart, as well as how to lean into it, become comfortable with it and change the world with it. Most of our students in the prison environment come from very to very significantly marginalized and disadvantaged backgrounds. Recognizing and using intelligence has not necessarily been socially acceptable. I want them to know, implicitly, that it is okay to be smart, and that they do not have to hide it but embrace it. For those who have committed to a different life, we need their voices in our communities today.

Considering the theme that education transforms lives and those of the prison population in particular. I continue to be struck by how many of my students represent significant intelligence, and potential. Education, and that provided by the community college mission, can lift people out of poverty and disadvantage, perhaps better than any other investment in individuals. In my role as an educator to students in a prison setting, it is clear that many have experienced very fractured educational opportunities and experiences, and there are many missing pieces to fill in. That could be in the form of extra, and targeted instruction, the building up of self-esteem to the acknowledgment of the potential for self-actualization. Many of our students have no idea of what they are capable of. That is a mission for me.

I come from a very educated family. From very early on, I was led to believe that I could be whatever I wanted to be and that education was the key to living my dream. I have never doubted my ability to achieve success and build the future that I wanted. Many students have never considered that life could be different from where they came from. They need to be mentored to dream big, reach high, and that the stars are their only limit. That is also my mission.

Despite coming from a very educated family, my experience with the public school system was less than stellar. I graduated from high school and was accepted to three Universities for further study. It became very clear that I did not know what I needed to be successful in college. After working and beginning to raise a family, I returned to school in my thirties to fill in the blanks, at Edmonds College. I had to go back to basic math and learn to write. It was a very humbling, but very uplifting experience because it was there that I really found my love of learning. This is also what I want for our students.

Edmonds College has been very central to my success professionally. I returned to school in 1996, taking evening and online courses to reorient to college, and then upon returning full-time in 2000, began a transfer degree program to earn a degree in Oceanography from the University of Washington (UW). I found that my time at Edmonds provided me with an excellent background in the supporting coursework for my degree. The instructors and emphasis on student success were key to providing me with everything I needed to do well once I transferred to the University of Washington. Indeed, I found that compared to my classmates at UW, my grounding in the basics was better because I had been asked to do more, learn more, and participate more, in my own learning. This is a hallmark of what we do at Edmonds College.

While engaged in self-reflection during the tenure process, it has been very refreshing to be directed to look at my teaching style on its own, rather than just comparing my style with others in passing. I admire my colleagues’ teaching methods and can appreciate and learn from them. That does not mean that I need to emulate a different style, but that I can learn from someone else, and incorporate an aspect of their style into my own. Another, and somewhat humbling realization, has been that there will always be new perspectives, that I have not encountered, or had not taken the time to examine. A different perspective, and from students in particular, can be different enough that I am stopped short. I consider this ‘brain food’, and as such is something to be enjoyed and perhaps internalized. Growth feels good, and I look forward to all the perspectives that I have not yet encountered.