My Flyer Story: Knowledge learned

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I was surrounded by education. My mother worked in the school system, and I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. After graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I taught elementary school in Brooklyn, never imagining that I’d leave my home in New York.

But I discovered that even the best laid plans often take us in different directions. I became deputy superintendent in New York and two years later, I was offered a job in Cleveland. That marked the first time I had ever been to Ohio.

In 2003, I found myself interviewing for the job of Deputy Superintendent with Dayton Public Schools. I was hired, and soon I was moving to Dayton. It was a big job with bigger responsibilities — a huge district with 16,000 students. I started thinking about going back to school to get my doctorate.

I looked into UD because its educational leadership program has an excellent reputation and it was close to my job. Though I had never attended a private institution, I thought it would be a good change.

As a woman of color, it was difficult not knowing what I might find at UD. I had never experienced an institution of higher education that was mostly white. Plus, I was serving Dayton’s largest public school system, with an enrollment of nearly 75% Black or Hispanic students. I was unsure what kind of experience UD would give me.

UD is so welcoming of different people with different backgrounds, and so were my professors ... they wanted us to succeed – that made a huge impact on me.

And I didn’t have much experience with Catholicism, not being Catholic myself. But I quickly learned how increasingly diverse UD was and still is. Many students aren’t Catholic, but instead practice various religions. In fact, when I was an adjunct professor at UD, I had students who were Muslim and would need to leave class in order to pray each day.

My perception of Dayton changed quickly. UD is so welcoming of different people with different backgrounds, and so were my professors. They were engaged with us, and they wanted us to succeed — that made a huge impact on me.

I ended up moving to South Carolina for another job before I finished my coursework but I was able to finish my degree remotely, earning my Ph.D. in 2010. But my time in Dayton made a big impression and I moved back after I retired in 2014.

I built a house in the Wright Dunbar neighborhood, just a few miles from campus, because it felt most like home. When I first moved here, I already had a career but what my time at UD did was enhance what I already knew and give me a new perspective on learning.

A version of this article appears in print in the Winter 2024-45 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 52. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE