Chris Dalki has taught social studies atEdinafor seven years, but before that, he was of all things, an underwear model. Dalki went to a job placement agency during his freshman year of college atDePaulUniversityand left with a spontaneous offer to become a model. He also promoted cologne and did multiple television adds for department stores
Students sit in class everyday and can’t imagine their teachers doing anything else besides teaching. But like Mr. Dalki, many instructors had lives before they were teachers and did a lot of interesting, sometimes unimaginable, things.
Take Tim McManus for example. He was and still is a skilled engineer. While studying at MIT, his undergraduate thesis concentrated on the creation of the ‘h’ sound in the speech synthesis machine that Stephen Hawking, the award winning physicist, uses. “I like to say that Stephen Hawking could not say his name without my contribution,” said Mr. McManus.
Or, take Spanish teacher Alejandro Diaz. Señor Diaz who grew up inChile, took action against the oppressive dictatorship that controlled all aspects of his life. “When I was a teenager, my friends and I would help organize and participate in political rallying and paint graffiti in the streets,” Señor Diaz said. “We even got arrested a couple of times because it was illegal to be against the government,” he added. Diaz eventually came to theUnited States, claiming he was “kidnapped by a blonde fromLakeof the Isles” who became his wife.
Just a floor up from Señor Diaz is Jason Szporn’s classroom. “I worked as a lawyer at a large law firm inNew York City,” said Mr. Szporn. Some of his most interesting work included a case about the constitutionality of the death penalty inNew Yorkstate. Another was a case involving Native Americans who were trying to get back tribal lands that had been taken from them by various levels of government over the years.
Mr. Szporn, like many other teachers, changed jobs after trying less engaging activities. “The law was intellectually challenging, but in practice I spent 95% of my time interacting with pieces of paper,” said Mr. Szporn. “Now, no more than 94.99% of my time involves interacting with pieces of paper, but at least I’m interacting with humans as well, and humans turn out to be more interesting.”
Social studies teacher Betsy Nimmo always knew she wanted to be a teacher. When she was still in school she toyed with pursuing a PhD in history but decided to study law instead for practical purposes. After ill-fitting careers as a lawyer and co-business owner, Mrs. Nimmo returned to theUniversityofMinnesotain her mid-forties to get her teaching license and the job she always wanted. “I was the world’s oldest student teacher,” Nimmo laughed, “but now I have a job that is a great fit, and I love every single day.”
“I should have pursued what I really wanted to do in the first place,” said Mrs. Nimmo.
