Letters From Teachers:

• Acting to learn, learning to act
• Born to teach
• Passing on a positive impact
• Why do I teach
• Learning together
• Loving the subject and the students
• Leading through our commitments
• Small victories keep me coming back
• Hands-on interaction draws me to teaching
• Awsome students inspire me
• Myriad reasons draw me to teach
• Taking pride in teaching
• Rediscovering the world through students' eyes
• Students' self-confidence is greatest gift
• Making a difference

Laura Severson de la Torre:

Why do I teach

My years at Cal-State Fullerton were exciting but also some of the hardest times in my life. After completing a teacher-training program at California High, I was determined to become a teacher. I started at Fullerton in fall 1982 majoring in child development. My mom sold an extra car, a '57 Chevy, to pay for my tuition and books, which added up to about $250. Money was an issue, but things were going well for me the first two years as a commuter student from Whittier.

Around my junior year, my security about staying in school took a dive. My father, who had health complications from his alcoholism, was in a serious car accident and could no longer work. My mother was working little and we soon began selling off our belongings and eventually our house.

Working several jobs from fast food to coaching high school color guard, I managed to stay in school and find a place to live. The real relief came when the financial aid department entered me in the disadvantaged youth program where I was able to get a job on campus at the Children's Center and also buy a car through their ìpackageî of grants, scholarships, loans and work-study.

My senior year was even more difficult. Family problems got worse and my financial aid was late. The first half of the fall semester I spent living on the couches of different people, some I hardly knew. Sometimes I did not have much food. I learned to survive on ìhappy hour,î and a popcorn and lemonade diet some gymnasts taught me. Most of my belongings were often in the back seat of my car.

About this time I was weary of this stress. I decided to quit school and look for a job in a supermarket. I walked into the human development counseling office. When I told Valerie Horowitz and Judy Ramirez my plan, they spent the afternoon on the phone trying to get me financial help and housing. Mostly what I appreciated was that they did not make me feel judged. Valerie was also my professor in child development classes, and she suggested that I take the NTE test and get out of school faster. Judy suggested I attend graduate school where I could be a substitute teacher in the day, and a student at night.

Thank God I listened to them and did everything they suggested. I graduated in June 1987. The next spring, I began attending Long Beach State and worked at Long Beach Unified as a substitute teacher. I earned my credential as a teacher in 1990.

Since 1988, I have been teaching in various situations. My first job was as a kindergarten teacher in Huntington Beach. The fit just was not right. I later went on to teach adult school for several years. My current career has been my big contribution to society and place of personal healing. I have worked with at risk-youth the last 10 years at the Los Angeles County Office of Education. My site is the Norwalk-La Mirada Cal-SAFE program, which is a self-contained high school for pregnant teens. The rigorous curriculum of upper-level subject content that a child development major endures at CSUF has been very valuable for the task of teaching multiple subjects in high school.

After a few years with the county, I realized the greatest lesson I could give my students was to tell them my past instead of hiding it from them. I personally hated the labels of ìdisadvantaged youthî or ìat-risk student.î Many of my students struggle with poverty and hopelessness. I know what that is like and now it's my turn to be the teacher instead of the student.

I have had about 70 graduates in the last decade; many have attended college, which is phenomenal for teen moms who have a very low rate of graduation. The biggest joy I had was last year when two of my students enrolled at CSUF. I spent all day on the phone with counselors at Fullerton working out the details. Both students are currently working in majors related to teaching or children. A big tear of joy ran down my face when I realized that I made it to the other side -- and completed the circle of gifts that were given to me when I started at Cal State Fullerton.

Laura Severson de la Torre

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