I am a teacher at Delaware Tech.

I take my students out of their comfort zones like blindfolded high wire walkers in training.  I bounce the wire a little to see who has the courage or the desire that it takes to put just one foot in front of the other... To take the first steps toward his or her own success.  And then... Just as they start to get comfortable out there on the high wire, I challenge them to do tricks and stunts... To do more than just walk... Anyone can walk!

I push and I pull. I am willing to tantalize, intimidate, tease, talk, laugh, cry, coddle, council, coach, cajole, and if necessary, scare the hell out of them.  I catch the one’s who fall. I steady the ones who waver. I keep them looking up... Always up, and always forward. Sometimes they move forward only inches at a time, but occasionally... They fly.

I try each day to give them my very best and I accept nothing less from them.  I don’t believe they deserve anything less from me, or themselves.  I ask them to balance there on that high wire... to balance work and life, to balance creativity and imagination with hard practice.

I teach then not to settle.  Not to settle for half-hearted performances, not to settle for less than the achievement of their goals. The world is full enough with people who have gone just half-way.

I teach them how to reach, to reach high, to reach out, to reach farther than the limits of their arm, farther than the limits of their experience... All the way to their imagination and beyond.

I teach them how to see.
To see beyond their reach, to visualize the other end of that high wire, to see problems in new ways, to visualize new solutions, to evaluate those solutions for their strengths and to transform their visions into creative, concrete, reality.  A reality that promises nothing less than a new challenge, a new chance everyday... 
To dance on the high wire of life.

I do this everyday, and I love it.