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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast Episode 49: What Education Means to Me by Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Embark on a heartfelt odyssey with me, Dr. Carrie Hepburn, as we unravel the life-changing magic of education. Witness the tale of determination and courage through my eyes as my mother, against an era less kind, grasped her independence through learning, earning her GED with an unyielding spirit. This isn't just a narrative of my family; it's a tribute to the valiant women of her time, who, with education as their sword, carved out choices and self-reliance from a world that offered them little. My fervor for education is deeply rooted in these experiences, igniting a passion that has fueled my journey in this field.
As we turn the pages of this story, we extend our deepest thanks to the educators—those pillars of our communities who, day in and day out, shape the destinies of countless students. By threading in the perspectives of these unsung heroes, we paint a vivid picture of their indelible impact. I invite you to join our Compass PD community by sharing your stories that echo education's transformative power. Let's celebrate the legacy of learning and the dedicated individuals who commit their lives to spreading its invaluable light.
Hello, hello, hello. Compass PD community. It's Dr Keri Hepburn here. I am really looking forward to joining you.
Speaker 1:Today we are starting a brand new series and this series was really just placed on my heart. I feel like and those of you that know me know that I do a lot regarding my feelings but I feel like educators really need to know the importance and value of the work that they do, and so I wanted some parts of our podcast to be just inspiring, uplifting to those that are in the education community. So the title of this series that we're going to start doing is called what Does Education Mean to Me? And if you have just like a really great story about what education means to you, I would love for you to just reach out to me at kerryatcompass-pdcom and I would love to get you on to talk with you about for our podcast about what education means to you. I'm looking for people with testimonials, people who want to share their uplifting education stories about what education means to them, and so today I thought I would start with mine, and I hope that you find it uplifting. I can tell you that, as I tell you my story, this is the driving force in everything that I do in education is I always have this person like behind me reminding me of don't stop, don't quit, always believe Education is critical, it's valuable, it's important, it changes lives. I'm going to just quickly get started and go through and share with you a little bit about my story and my life.
Speaker 1:I was born in the 70s to two parents, my mom and my dad, who were married. My dad was an entrepreneur. He lost his mom when he was young, in elementary school, adopted by his mother who had deceased parents, and was raised by them. But he was an entrepreneur. He got his associate's degree. He is full of life, still quite the character, and he was just very doting father. So I've always been really blessed to have a doting father parents actually.
Speaker 1:And then my mom. He married my mom in the early seventies and my mom was a high school dropout. She actually not even high school. She went to school until eighth grade and then she had to drop out because she was one of the. She was the second oldest or third oldest in her family. There were 13 kids. Her dad was the sole breadwinner. Her mother was very ill. They lived in extreme poverty, dirt floors. Her dad walked several miles to work every single day back and forth, and so the oldest kids had to go to work, and so my mom had to start working as soon as she finished eighth grade, and at that time you could drop out of school and go to work. So she went to work and one of the things for my mom that she had going for her was that she was gorgeous like a knockout. She had this dark black hair, these dark, dark, stunning eyes and just beautiful skin, and she became a waitress and she worked really hard as a waitress and she met my dad and they fell in love and they got married and they had three kids.
Speaker 1:So what happened then was my dad was building businesses and he was working all the time and my mom was at home raising three kids. It wasn't something that she loved doing, but she didn't have, or felt like she didn't have at the time, options or choice. So about the time that I was in third grade, she made the brave decision to go back to school and get her GED. So she wanted to have options and choice, and really being a stay-at-home mom wasn't in her, and also not having that high school diploma really brought on her a lot of shame, a lot of embarrassment, she decided to go back. She wanted to go back and finish this GED, even though the timing wasn't great, even though, you know, it was not exactly supported by my dad at the time. She she went to night classes. She went to night school at the time that they had night school I don't even know if they have night school anymore but she went and she went back and she got that. So it was really something she was incredibly proud of and should be, because that was quite an accomplishment.
Speaker 1:What was happening at that time? Just to kind of set the tone, in the seventies and eighties, being a working woman, a professional woman, was starting to gain some traction. And I think that was really hard for my mom because my dad was an entrepreneur, so he always was working with different women, and then she was at home and felt like she was trapped with three kids and didn't really have options. Not that she didn't love it, she did very much, but it was hard. It was just hard in a different time. Thankfully, she did go back and get this GED, because in the mid to late eighties they ended up divorcing and when my parents got divorced she didn't really have many options without a high school diploma and a GED. It was really hard for her. Her job options and ways to support herself were extremely limited. So she found a full-time job and then found that she needed to work 15 to 20 hours of overtime to just be able to put food on the table for herself. That wasn't with us living with her or wanting to do things with or for us. That was just her being able to have a place to live, pay the electricity, pay the bills, pay the car, pay her apartment rent, all of those things.
Speaker 1:It was during this time. The reason why I want to tell you this is because it was during this time she started impressing my sister and I the importance of having an education, because to her it was the way that you had options. It provided a way for a woman to support herself and not have to rely on a man. So please understand I am not male bashing. This was a completely different time at that time, but I just wanted you to understand the context of the situation.
Speaker 1:There is a happy ending to this, though, because my mom even in the midst of her divorce, she was single. She was living paycheck to paycheck. She made the brave decision to go back to school. She wanted to go to college and earn a degree, a certificate. She wanted to earn something, something. And so she went back to school while she was working and she earned her associate's degree and a certificate and I can't remember what the certificate it is in right now, but it was something that, immediately at her job, got her an instant pay raise, and that instant pay raise of that education meant she no longer had to work overtime in order to support herself. It actually meant that she had options and by the time she had gotten this associate's degree, I had two children, I was married and I can tell you that she earned her associate's degree and the certificate with honors.
Speaker 1:This is a woman that was in eighth grade dropout friends, so think about this. So her children showed up and her two first grandchildren were there. We were like the largest cheering section at that whole graduation ceremony at Danville Area Community College in Illinois at that time at Danville Area Community College in Illinois at that time. So the pride, that shame that she felt of not going past that eighth grade that was in her mind was finally lifted, the opportunity that she found to be able to support herself and have health insurance and be able to have something like a 401k was a huge burden that was taken off of her shoulders and something that she just impressed on us. That an education is important, get your education. But I have to be honest with you. But I have to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:My journey was really slow. I had no idea, 18 years old, what I wanted to be. When I grew up, I had no clue. I didn't have a passion really for anything. High school to me was like social. It was fun. It was about my friends. It wasn't and again, this was a different time. We didn't have honors and AP classes and all of the things that our students have now. It was just about like the football game on Friday night, the basketball games. What sports were you playing in? When was the dance? All of that. So to me, that was what that was about. So I really didn't know what I wanted. I tried going to school and it just wasn't working out. I was just like floundering from place to place. It took me a little bit, but once I decided that I wanted to be an educator, I decided that I wanted to be an educator.
Speaker 1:I can tell you that, like I had a single vision, a single focus, but by that time I was married with two children, married my high school sweetheart. We've been together for over 30 years and for me to go to him, probably much like it was with my mom going to my dad saying, okay, we've got these two kids and I want to go to him. Probably much like it was with with my mom um going to my dad saying, okay, we've got these two kids and I want to go back to school, um, to get my degree. Because I really know what I want to do now. I want to work in education. Like this is my life's work, this is my passion, and my husband was incredibly supportive, incredibly supportive and my biggest cheerleader. But the second person in line was my mom and she showed up big because she knew the time and the effort and the importance of me being able to focus on this and what that would be. And so she came and she supported us by helping us watch the kids before and after school so that I could be in class and he could be at work, or if we needed time for studying. I needed time for studying and my husband was at work. So I just want you to know that, like she knew it was so important and that when I made the decision what I wanted to be she was like right there to say okay, I'm here to support you.
Speaker 1:After that, my commitment to education has never wavered because once I knew education was my life's work, I fully committed to it. And I fully committed to it because I saw the importance of it through watching my mom and watching how hard it was, the years that she struggled, the shame that she endured. I knew that an education opened doors and I saw firsthand the confidence that it brought into her life, the years of pain and embarrassment and shame being washed away by pride and confidence and empowerment. So in 2006, she passed and by then, by 2006, I had a bachelor's degree. And she was so proud of me that I had that bachelor's degree and that I could support myself and that I was a teacher me, that I had that bachelor's degree and that I could support myself and that I was a teacher. And at that time that she was coming to the end of her life, I was working on my master's degree and her last words to me were Carrie, you need to finish your education. And, friends, I tell you I had a bachelor's degree and she was so proud, but she saw the value of education for her last day.
Speaker 1:And so when people ask me, what does education mean to me, I don't want you to think that it has to be a college degree at all. I truly believe in the trades and certificates and options like that that allow you to support yourself and do the things that you're supposed to do in your life. But I do believe that you need a high school diploma because it does give you options. What education means to me? It means freedom, because doors are opened. Without an education, doors are closed and sadly, like you can be brilliant and it's completely unfair and I see that all the time. You know, we work in schools, we work in alternative high schools, we work in schools all over and there are these brilliant, brilliant humans, these kids, these adults, and because of their situation or circumstance or lack of something, people, doors get closed on them and it's not fair. But education means freedom.
Speaker 1:I also believe education is empowering. It's building you up to see that you can do hard things and that you have gifts and talents that the world needs. And in getting your education. It empowers you and allows you to see that you can do things even when they're difficult. Education also gives us a lens in which to view the world. So we learn about people who are different, because there's lots of different people in our schools. We learn about the world when we're in classes and we're studying these things. We learn about ourselves more in ways that we would never be able to do that on our own.
Speaker 1:I believe, truly believe, that our schools are the hearts of our community and I believe that when the school is the heart of your community, you know, time and time again I've seen when someone's sick or in need, it's the community, it's the school that shows up, and they show up big.
Speaker 1:So my purpose in this and I apologize for the moment of tears, but that's how passionate I am about this I will serve until the day I die in education. I need you educator friends to know that you are changing lives every single day, single day. You are serving, you are empowering, you are giving students lenses, multiple lenses, in which to view the world, and I want to say thank you, thank you for what you're doing. I appreciate you because education means to me the world and those who are serving you mean that much to me too. So I just want to say to you I am so thankful for you. If you found this inspiring or if you have a story to share that you'll reach out to me, because I I want to hear your story, I want to share your what education means to me story, inspirational story with our Compass PD community. So, again going back to, if you found this inspiring or you find our podcast helpful, please share it with a fellow educator. I am so grateful for you. I wish you the absolute best day.