Life experiences are the essence of teaching. If each of us had been an educator at 16 or 17, when we knew everything, the ASNE Institute in Austin would not be beneficial. But since we were part of a teenage minority who wanted to learn, to dream and to choose, we find ourselves spending our remaining summer vacation looking for a solid foundation with which we can lay the groundwork for the current teenagers who continue to profess genius. Few people realize what their life entails until they have the opportunity to share their life experiences with others.

When I lived and worked in Ecuador, South America, in 2003, I quickly realized how fortunate my family is and how miniscule my problems appear. The day after day grind of sitting in a Miami cubicle as an insurance adjustor, hating the job and cringing when the phone rang, all of a sudden seemed preferable to walking 15 to 20 miles through the scorching 96- degree heat to purchase groceries. The bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-95 and sitting in an air-conditioned vehicle for 15 to 20 miles was actually a luxury compared to enduring the heat emanating from the asphalt and the smell of the bus exhaust slapping me in the face as I walked. What I once thought and believed and considered important was quickly crushed into tiny unrecognizable pieces.

Returning to Florida after six months of watching the locals struggle through their daily lives, taking nothing for granted, and teaching cheers and chants to young girls who practiced endlessly, in Ecuador, my life had to change. I could see what I truly desired was something I did not know before; a path. A simple path.

Not a path in a beautiful rose garden or a path to redemption, but a life path where I would grow personally and share my growth with others. This is why I pursued teaching.

After months of research, completing paperwork and waiting for the mail, the State of Florida granted me a temporary teaching certificate. It would be an opportunity to share life experiences and interact with the next generation. I had laid the foundation and received the first stone for my path. Three years later my path brings me here to Austin with 34 educators whose paths appear to travel in the same direction. It is a path that I once thought similar to Robert Frost’s explanation of ‘The Road Not Taken.’ Teaching kids was not a first career choice. But now, “that has made all the difference.”

Lives touched by students, embraced by educators and honored by choices that those who have been touched will someday follow the path for which we 35 now so willingly lay before their feet. We might collectively lay stones for kids who may not have the support or love from immediate family members or lay stones for those who do not want to learn. Our hope is to lay stones that will show the beginning of a path, even though it may lead to the unknown. Hoping to see the “a-ha” moment a student realizes their path increases by one more stone.

“Failure isn’t falling down; it’s staying down,” high school journalism teacher Stacey Dudzinski said. “I saw this quote on a Dairy Queen marquee and it just spoke to me.” Dudzinski loves children and journalism and hopes that her students are informed graduates who never settle. “My yearbook staff missed every deadline and we did not think our book would be delivered by the end of the school year. I told the kids to hang in there and work hard. Our book arrived a week prior to graduation.”

High school journalism teacher Angela Blair advises her students to get beyond dreaming to achieve. “As Nike’s motto says, ‘Just Do It’. I describe teaching as interesting, challenging, rewarding, ministry and opportunity.” An educator for 20 years, Blair hopes to help her students become better writers, improve interviewing skills and work as a team. A recent graduate, Jill Fransen, was in Blair’s journalism class for two years. Fransen was editor of the newspaper last year and now plans to attend UT this fall. “I saw her blossom from a poor speller and average writer to competing in two academic journalism competitions and winning medals. She did not let her poor spelling interfere with her desire to write. I think the classroom gave her a place to belong and showcase her talents.”