Richard Shields
Thank you for this opportunity.
My earliest ideas of what I considered my ideal career all revolved around heroics; that is, I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to pull people from burning vehicles, save lives and catch the bad guy. As I write today considering this great opportunity, I cannot tell you that my desire to be a hero has changed. I can tell you that years of experience, the blessing of five children and a wonderful wife, and maturing in my faith have definitely changed my idea of what a hero is and does.
A hero is generally defined as "a person of distinguished courage or ability admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities."
This is a fair representation of how I thought I wanted my resume to look. As a senior in high school I obtained my Emergency Medical Technician’s license through the state and began to explore careers in the emergency services. I soon learned that physical labor would pay me a living wage but would not provide the extra finances needed to enable me to pursue further education. Like many young men, I spent a season working these types of jobs, dabbling in school from time to time. When I was able to find the resources to take classes, I would do well, but the mountain ahead of me always seemed too high to climb and my dreams remained out of reach. Then something happened that caused me to rethink the direction I wanted my life to take.
In December, 1997 I met Elizabeth. After a whirlwind courtship we married marriage six months later. With the responsibilities of marriage and thinking of a family, I knew that something had to change. I began to reconsider my childhood dreams in a career search that would bring me to where I am today. When news of our first pregnancy settled in I knew that my job of delivering furniture was not where I had hoped to be when I began a family. I needed things like medical benefits and a retirement plan. An ad in the paper for a records clerk at the local sheriff’s office caught my eye. The pay was more than I was making at the time and there were great benefits. I could see a light ahead, a future. I was excited about a career where advancement was possible and I remembered how I had always longed to work in the emergency services. After completing the process of interviews, polygraph and drug testing, and extensive background investigation I was offered employment, and I experienced a pride I had rarely had occasion to enjoy.
My first day of employment was four days before our first daughter would make her way into our world. I was given a few days off and then it was back to learning the world of law enforcement. I loved it and it showed. In eight months I was promoted to emergency dispatcher and two years later I was promoted to corrections deputy. I was eventually sponsored to attend a police academy and before long I was living my dream. I was speeding down the road with lights and sirens on, helping people and doing something I didn't all at once recognize: maturing. My ideas of what a hero was began to change. With that change came something I did not expect. While doing routine patrols at the local elementary school, I began to find myself talking with the kids, looking for opportunities to pass on wisdom. By this time we were preparing for the birth of our third child and our older two children were starting to express interest in sports. This brought me to our local recreation center to sign up my son for youth soccer, and was a turning point in my life.
It came in the form of a conversation with an overworked recreation director. I was told, "Sir, your child will not be able to play soccer. Unfortunately, we have more interest than available coaches — unless of course you would like to volunteer…"
I had never played soccer and never imagined that I was qualified to coach soccer. One look from my son, and yet another from my wife and I found myself the new head coach of the "Orange Team."
I walked out of the recreation center with a bag of soccer balls and scratching my head wondering what had just happened. I had never coached anything before. I had been told I had an affinity for teaching, especially children and young adults. As I coached these kids, however, I felt a passion that I had yet to feel even as a police officer. I loved what I was doing. I was not getting paid monetarily, yet I felt such pride when we won games and even when we lost. The feeling I would get at the local grocery store as a young child would walk by and say "Hi Coach!" with a bright smile hit a nerve with me that few things ever had. My wife recognized what was happening and suggested I return to school to become a teacher and coach. She had no idea I was already dreaming of just that. Fortunately the time I had spent away from school had yielded some great advances for the working adult deciding to return to school.
There were now classes being offered that were entirely online. What a wonderful opportunity for working adults like me! At this point, I was back working in emergency dispatch because it afforded me more flexible hours and the ability to return to school, as well as some "down time," along with Internet access, should I choose to work the overnight shift.
As many have experienced, working and going to school full-time can be a challenge. However, my love for school and learning new and exciting things have been only exceeded by my love and excitement for passing the knowledge on to young minds. An online education, I have found, is ideal for me. Idealism aside, it is really my only option for ongoing education and I am thankful for its existence. I will continue to be a proponent of online education as long as I have a voice.
I am now a thirty-four-year-old father of five, and I find that our lives more interesting than I ever could have imagined. I am proud to say that I have continued to perfect my coaching skills and have been offered paid coaching positions through our local recreation centers has a head baseball, softball and soccer coach. I learn and research more everyday and I am having the time of my life doing so.
I continue to dream of the pinnacle of being a classroom teacher with a degree in education, and of being able to coach and mold young minds. I yearn be able to teach values like integrity and honor. I desire to be able to pass along factual knowledge, and to live a life worthy of a young person’s admiration, especially those within my family and community. Although working to provide for our family takes a lot of time, it is the financial difficulty that makes continuing my education the hardest. This financial difficulty combined with the most sincere desire to help educate children is why I humbly ask for your consideration in making my dream a reality. With a degree I will have the academic credentials to obtain a teaching job, and the opportunity to fulfill my dream of being a hero — a teacher.
Thank you again for your time and consideration.