Mary Fitzgerald Jung

Since 1983, I lived in Southeast Ohio for 15 years and was married to my husband Lee Jung in 1990.

I had the opportunity to visit Southern China twice in the summer and winter of 1986. It was an experience I will never forget!

I attended Ohio University and earned a BSED in Elementary Education K-8 in 1991, a Reading Specialist Certification in 1997, an MED in Learning Disabilities and an MED in Developmental Handicaps in 1998.

We moved to North Carolina in 1998 to be closer to my father who had retired to the Wilmington area in 1987. (He passed away in 2003).

I have been employed by Kannapolis Middle School since then teaching 6th-7th grade Special Ed for 3 years, 6th grade Language Arts for 6 years, and 7th grade Special Ed for the last 2 years. (Don't feel sorry for me, I think 11-14 year olds are the coolest people on Earth!)

I earned my Academically/Intellectually Gifted Specialist Certification in 2000 and earned my National Boards in Language Arts in 2001.

As well as teaching, I have been the Music Director at Milford Hills Baptist Church since 2002, responsible for organizing the Worship Services and directing the adult and children's choirs.

My husband and I enjoy riding his motor cycle, camping and hiking, being active in our church, and spending time with family and friends. I have also spent a lot of time traveling to visit family in Iowa, Oklahoma, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, Oregon, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. (It's a good thing that I love to fly!)

Our future plans include more of the same and being surprised by whatever else comes along.

I remember being on a school trip to New York City (I can't remember for what), when Jill Kornberg and I went into a Greek Deli. She taught me a phrase in Greek and told me to say it to the man at the counter. She told me that it would make him laugh.

I should have realized that she was playing a trick on me when she ran out of the store, but I proceeded to to repeat the phrase to the man any way.

Well, he did laugh (after he gasped in surprise) when he realized that I had no idea what I had just said. (Apparently I had just told him to eat ****.) I turned deep red, appologized to him, and then chased Jill down the street.

From this, I learned never to say anything to anyone in a language I don't know, especially Greek. (Remember what happened to that guy in My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding?)