BP01_Welcome to my blog

July 16, 1999 was the day John F. Kennedy Jr. was reported missing.  It is this event that caused my self-reflection and the first major turning point in my life, to pursue a career as a teacher.  Let me explain…

My name is Cherylee Gruber and this is my first attempt at blogging.  So you are about to read probably more than you ever thought about my time on this planet.  I was raised in a California National Forest.  My parents were part of the Silicon Valley boom of the early 70s and wanted out.  They sold everything and moved our small family to the mountains to live off the land.  I emerged from that forest, barefoot, with the clothes on my back, alone, at the age of fifteen.

I married at age sixteen and divorced by age twenty-one.  As a single mom, I worked in a small electronics store and climbed the employment ranks to a managerial position.  My knowledge of electronics grew and I worked in home entertainment, sales and marketing.  At the age of twenty-five I married my second husband, also in sales.  Our mutual interest in sales and marketing and our combined ambition propelled our life.  Money was quickly attained and easy to spend.  My early hardships were quickly surpassed with success and wealth.  And we lived happily ever after… Or maybe not…

It was in July 1999 when I was twenty-eight years old, when I was lying on the deck of a large ship in the warm Caribbean sun.  The smell of coconut suntan oil and tropical drinks filled the air.  The Jamaican steel drums faded to the background as I began to hear gossip erupt on deck.  John-John was missing.  After retrieving the details, I returned to the deck and peered over into the beautiful blue of the Caribbean Sea.  His plane was somewhere below.  And although we were unsure of his passing, I knew his life was over.

It is odd how questioning another’s life ends with questioning your own, however, before I left that ship I had already vowed to make my life more meaningful.  All the money, planes, and vacations seemed unfulfilling and empty.  I wanted to do something with my life before I too disappeared into the dark.

Before the end of 1999, I had quit my career, returned to the university and dismissed my husband.  I decided to become a teacher and pretty much everyone around me thought I was crazy.

I became a successful High School English teacher of ten years.  The career I had chosen was difficult work, with long hours and sleepless nights.  The biggest difficulty was trying to help my students with personal issues that I would have found unbearable.  Yet, this career felt right.  I felt fulfilled.  After changing careers in the middle of my career lifespan successfully, I thought I could do anything.

At the age of thirty-three I married my partner for life.   We support each other in our crazy endeavors and encourage one another to grow.  He is a musician and artist who inspects wind farms.  We decided to have a baby girl when our sons went off to college.  Life… What an adventure.   

With our California small town family, I decided I needed to be more involved in the local community.  You know, PTA, bake sales, and car washes.   I resigned from my job to try my hand at Middle School.  Let’s just say, I found something that I was not successful at… Middle School Algebra.  My student’s test scores plummeted faster than my self-esteem.  The test scores bounced back, but my reputation did not.  I was asked not to return.  Which leads to a second life-changing self-assessment…

So here I am, Full Sail University.  I decided that since I had some time to think about my life, I might as well get some work done.  Little did I know that the Educational Media Design and Technology program would be so inspirational.  Currently, I am collecting an arsenal of tools and techniques to use on my comeback tour of the classroom.  I began the program questioning whether I should continue to be a teacher.  Now, I know that I am a teacher… A teacher who wants to teach differently.

Welcome to my journey -