Reflections on my Story

     While I certainly believe that I am an individual with very diverse and distinctive traits, characteristics, interests, and abilities, I also possess several cultural identifiers.  I am currently an educational leader, but what brought me to this point in my life's journey?
     I suppose that I realized that I was a heterosexual, American male at an early age.  I had a younger sister, and it was evident that we were biologically different.  I also came from a military family and lived on military bases when I was young.  I can recall being in kindergarten thinking that I wanted to grow up and be in the Marines to shoot machine guns- something I knew little girls could not do at the time.  I also knew something about race, gender, economic status at a young age, but I lacked full comprehension of these constructs at that time. 
     Stereotypical of being in a military family, I moved every three school years when I was growing up.  I lived in many diverse places and had many cultural experiences.  I suppose I really started to notice, and began to understand, racial and socioeconomic lines during my middle school years.  During that time I lived in a suburb of Tampa, Florida.  I used to have to ride the bus approximately 45 minutes into downtown Tampa to attend school in order to ensure desegregation.  As a Caucasian male, I was in the minority of students in my school; the majority of students were either African American or of Cuban decent.  I distinctly recall that many of the African American and Cuban students were from poor families and lived in the nearby projects.  Additionally, it was not difficult to perceive that the African American and Cuban students seemed to despise one another based on racial lines.  Being caught in the middle of a dispute between these two groups was a daily fear during this time. 
     I moved to Tallahassee, Florida after 7th grade and saw abject poverty there too.  I was a middle class child, but not far away people were living in squalor.  I went to school with students from these depressed areas.  It was in 8th grade that I really began to sense that the students in the lower socioeconomic bracket seemed to have very different lifestyles.  Moreover, although I lived in other places, my high school experiences were similar to that of my experiences in 8th grade. 
     My peer group in high school attended college.  In college I enrolled in NROTC and was destined to become an officer in the United States Marine Corps.  Yes, I was following in the footsteps of my father.  In the Marines I worked with people of all different ethnic and economic backgrounds, and learned that teamwork and success is possible with anyone.  This belief still holds strong with me today.
     As an educational leader I see this as a tremendous asset.  For example, I currently work in a school where 70% of the students are classified as English language learners.  I continuously tell students how fortunate they are to be bilingual!  The diversity of my students is something to be used as a strength- I see the big picture...  We really do live in a global society despite it sounding cliche.  Having traveled extensively, I know this to be true.  I want my students to see the world beyond the local neighborhood; this takes experience.  As an educational leader this is not always easy, but it is a must for our students to be successful in today's society.  How?  Two years ago I had a frustrated teacher ask me how he could teach "these students" about the world when they had not even ever been to the beach which is only 12 miles away.  I asked him how much he knew about the moon...  He started to tell me all sorts of things, and then I asked him when the last time he visited the moon was.  Yes, we can teach our students, and yes, they can learn!  All of them can learn!  It is my challenge as an educational leader to foster this belief and promote culturally relevant instruction to ensure that all of our students receive a high quality education.