Perseverance & Right Attitude!

Keep moving forward .

by Melissa A. Honaker
Edited by: Jo Ann M. Whiteman,
Program Coordinator

I came to the University of Central Florida as a transfer student from a local community college.  I had just earned my second Associate’s degree and was getting advice from my seven year old son on what I should do next.  He told me that he would love for me to be a teacher and so I gave it thought, researched what type of teacher I could be with my experience and sought a meeting with the College of Education.  After a successful meeting with a counselor I was directed to meet directly with Dr. Jo Ann Whiteman to discussed the posibility of earning a B.S. in Technical Education and Industry Training.

The meeting went well!  Dr. Whiteman listened to me and indicated that my business experience as an employee and owner of my own business should be shared with others. She never rushed me or gave me less than 100% of her attention and that is one thing that I value most in people whether it be personal or in the business world.  Fact is that she cares and wants to see others be successful through guidance.

My journey was a short 18 months since I transferred to U.C.F. with an A.A.and A.S. degrees and earned my bachelor's degree. How exciting for me and my family.  I began interning with Winter Park Tech in the Accounting department and made sure to speak with other educators and administrations to let them know I wanted to teach full-time.  Over the summer I kept in contact with the Dean of the Tech Center and was offered an evening teaching position. Recently I've been transferred to the Avalon Center for Technical Excellence which is another campus of Winter Park Tech. I teach MS Office 2007 Overview and MS Excel 2007.

Through my interning, teaching and just speaking to others, the Dean at the Avalon Technical Center for Excellence is recommending me for a full time teaching position.  There is no guaranteed but it proves that with perseverance, a positive attitude, and contacts the right position will come along.

Note by editor: Melissa attended advising sessions with her son. All three of us would sit down together. He also shared a little about his education journey. While attending school she served as membership chair recruiting students for Kappa Phi.