Comments:
Attending Walnut Hills impacted my life in so many ways. The rigorous academics, the venue for gifted and talented expression through the arts, as well as the negative incidents I experienced as an African American, all played a positive role in who I am today. I was almost prepared for what I would experience in the future, in the real world. You ask, "What have I been doing since 1961?" I have been a happy, joyful, perpetual learner, not sure of what I really wanted to be. I am a world traveler and adventure seeker. After graduating from U.C., I moved to Chicago and after several unrewarding jobs, ended up teaching; that's when I realized that I had to be connected to children in some way. I left the classroom to become a consultant with a government funded program that was designed to address the specific needs of bilingual children. During that time I wrote a program for The Psycholinguistic Approach to Learning and trained teachers across the country in its usage. After doing this for 3 years, I became an educational Reading consultant for Harcourt Brace.I got married in 1976 and decided to leave Harcourt in 1979 before the birth of my first child; I wanted to be at home. I taught again for a few years and earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership with a focus on Brain-Compatible Learning. I am an adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan, and a specialist in Integrated Vision Therapy. In June (2010) I retired from the classroom and began volunteering in an economically disadvantaged school. I still love music, dancing, sports, and taking classes of any kind; "I know, I'm messed up! I have been happily married for 41 years and have been blessed with two wonderful children and three grandchildren. In retrospect, I can honestly say that the negative, racially motivated experiences I encountered are overshadowed by all the pleasant memories associated with so many of my wonderful classmates. I enjoyed seeing so many of you at the 50th reunion and finally danced with Steve Katona. Itruly regretted not being able to make the 55th reunion.
Had a book published in October of 2017. This book was written as a guide to parents and teachers about the ways in which they can either empower or stifle their children's future success. It follows development and learning from the womb to the school and uncovers hidden disabilities, reasons for their occurrence as well as techniques for their remediation.
